The Inside Job
by mabelreid
Summary: Set after 52 pickup Someone in the BAU covets Dr. Reid's abilities for their own. Now the team must find their missing team member. How do they defeat another team of profilers working against them?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/n this is set right after "52 Pickup," and pretty much follows cannon to that point.**_

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Reid sat on the edge of his kitchen chair and stared at the phone in his hand. Should he call her? She was the one that had called him after the case in Atlanta. But did that mean that she wanted him to call her now? He put down the phone and pulled his wallet out of the messenger bag on the table next to him. The business card she'd sent back to him with the lipstick print on the back was in one of the slots meant for credit cards. He plucked it out and turned it over. She wouldn't have sent it back if she didn't like him. This was different from Lila, right? This wasn't transference, right? Surely he wouldn't get his heart broken again like he had with Lila and JJ.

He put down the card and picked up the phone. She'd be happy he'd called. He would just keep telling himself that over and over. His fingers trembled over the numbers, but he dialed despite their shaking

He listened to the phone ring and felt his heart begin to beat very fast. What if she didn't want to talk to him? What if he reminded her of the worst night of her life so far? Doubts almost made him hang up and then it was too late.

The connection to a girl hundreds of miles away was made much quicker than he was ready for. Her voice sounded in his ear and suddenly he couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face. The fingers of his empty left hand crossed for good luck.

"Hi Austin…" His voice stuttered and went up two octaves. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hi… Ah its Reid… ah I mean Spencer."

_**Just kill me now! **_

There was silence on the other end and then she laughed, sounding delighted rather than politely disinterested_. _Then she said in a tone that was like tasting a bit of chocolate in his morning coffee.

"_Well hello Dr. Reid. I'm surprised… I didn't think you'd call me."_

He licked his lips while she spoke. "Why?"

"_I thought I was just another girl you'd met on the job. I was useful and now it's over."_

_**Oh, this was bad. Maybe she was mad at him. She didn't sound mad, but sometimes it was hard for him to tell. **_

"I… Um… I don't think of you like that." He sort of shouted into the phone.

_**Great, he should just hang up now and maybe he could keep what was left of his dignity.**_

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout at you."

"_Why don't we start over? Hello Spencer…"_

"Hi Austin," his voice was much steadier,

"_What's up?"_

"Um… I just wanted to call you and see how you're doing."

"_I'm fine… I'm working in a different bar now. I wanted to continue on with magic, but I have to pay the bills. There's a club here in Atlanta called the Magic Circle. It has the best reputation in the south for training illusionists. The problem is that they don't take amateurs. I can't seem to find anyone to teach me. The club has all these rules about how much magic you have to know before you can join the group. I think it's just a way to keep females out despite the 'no discrimination' laws. Did you know that there is a huge shortage of female illusionists, or prestidigitators, or whatever you call them?_

"So you really meant that you wanted to go into magic." It was the only thing he could think of to say.

"_Sure, I've wanted to be a magician since I was a kid. My dad always used to say that I had to get a real job. I actually listened to him. Then I met you and I realized that anything was possible."_

Reid wanted to commiserate about parents squashing your dreams, but it was hard to sympathize when your dad had left and your mother was mentally incapacitated. He bit down on just blurting it all out to her.

"Did you know…?" Reid went into his lecture mode instead. "That, Modern entertainment magic owes much of its origins to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His specialty was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as if they were alive. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke established their own theatre, the Egyptian Hall in London's Piccadilly, in 1873. They presented stage magic, exploiting the potential of the stage for hidden mechanisms and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view. The escapologist and magician Harry Houdini, whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on escapology.

"_Spencer," Austin interrupted when Reid stopped for breath. _

"I did it again, didn't I?"

"_It's okay. You know, I think you must be able to read minds."_

"Why do you think that?" His voice had begun to squeak.

"_If you hadn't called me I would've called you." _

"Really…"

"_Yeah, I miss you and I want to see you again. Can you take some time off to come down here?" _

"I don't know."

"_Please Spencer; I really need to see you"_

"What's wrong Austin?"

The jovial tone in her voice that had disguised something else in her voice that he'd missed with his own nervousness disappeared. She sounded on the verge of tears. How did he miss the fact that she was so upset? He was letting his attraction for her get in the way.

_**She's not a case. She likes you and you like her!**_

"_I just need you here. Can you please come and make the nightmares go away?"_

Nightmares… How could he make hers go away when he couldn't get rid of the images that haunted him every night? They were worse now that she played a role in them.

"I don't know…"

"_Please…"_

He couldn't say no to her. He would go down there. He had eight weeks of vacation time saved up. Hotch had been threatening to take the time away from him if he didn't use it.

"Okay… I'll talk to my boss."

"_Thank you Spencer, I'm sorry I'm such a baby. I never used to cry before all of this happened. Now I seem to do it all the time when I'm alone." _

"It's okay. I'll ask Hotch and call you back."

"_Thanks Spencer… That guy really scared me. I thought I was going to die."_

"Would you believe me if I told you that I know how you feel? I know it sounds trite and unfeeling but…"

She was quiet again for a long time and he thought he'd really blown it this time. _"Yeah…" _Her voice was very soft, _"I believe you. There was something in your eyes that I noticed right away. Will you tell me what happened?" _

"I can't not over the phone. It was something that happened to me the last time I came to Georgia on a case and it changed my life forever."

"_Oh…"_

"Do you still want me to come down there?"

He crossed the first two fingers of his right hand. He wanted to see her again despite going back to Georgia without the team, or a case, to distract him.

"_Of course I do… Don't be ridiculous. I don't care what happened to you. If it was anything like what happened to me or worse, it's not my place to judge." _

"Then I better go make the arrangements. I'll call you when I have the details."

----

Reid talked to Hotch and got permission to take as much time off as he wanted. Hotch told him that he didn't want to see him back in the office for at least a couple of weeks. Reid tried to tell him that he didn't need that much time, but Hotch gave him his patented look that meant 'do what I say or you're in big trouble," look.

Reid insisted on finishing out the day. Of course when Morgan found out where he was going, he had to endure the older man's teasing and Emily's smirks. He thanked God it was Friday and he could get out of town as soon as the day was over.

----

He looked down on the bullpen from his office. The way they were teasing Dr Reid was something he always found very interesting. The man was more intelligent than all of them put together. Why did he put up with them treating him like a child? He could work in the private sector and make truckloads of money. Why did he stay here in the Bureau? The man went back to his desk and picked up his phone.

"Get up here now! No… Don't _you _talk to me that way? I know you're busy… Yeah, I'm _serious_. I need you to move now. No… my source has confirmed that he's going out of town on vacation. He's been ordered away for at least two weeks. Yes… The information is accurate. If we're going to move, we have to go _now_!"

He shut his phone and went back to the window. Dr. Reid would soon be in his hands and there was nothing Aaron Hotchner or anyone else could do about it.

_**A/n the information about magic qouted by Reid is found in Wikapedia**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/n hey all, here's the next chapter. THanks for all your kind reviews and thanks to my great beta who puts up with all of my muse's antics.**_

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

The golden pool of light over his desk illuminated him and the person sitting across from him. His guest sat with their hands clasped tapping their thumbs together. "Are you sure this is going to work."

"It will work if you all do what you're told."

"I've never disobeyed you."

"You have a very selective memory Calloway!"

"What happened in 2002 wasn't my fault it was -"

"Enough, this is why you're still a team leader instead of head of your unit. It's also why I'm giving you one last chance to prove yourself."

"I still don't like it."

"I wish there were another way. You've seen their track record. You know there's only one reason why their success rate is so high."

"That's your opinion."

"You don't think I'm right?'

The person in front of him sighed, "No, of course you're right. There is no other way. I just think we should be absolutely sure before we move."

"Fine, our man on the inside will confirm it for us."

"Are you sure you trust him?

"He's completely reliable. He's been feeding us information on them for a year now."

Calloway stood up. "Okay, but our time is very short. We need to move fast, before they get suspicious."

"They're not going to get suspicious until it's too late."

"I hope you're right. I'm putting a lot on the line."

"As I am Calloway… Now go and finish your end of the deal."

----

Reid was the only one left in the bullpen. The other's had left an hour ago. He'd decided to stay for an extra hour due to the fact that he couldn't get a flight south till Sunday. The weekend flights till Sunday afternoon were all booked. He guessed he could have got Garcia to bump someone, but technically this wasn't an emergency, and it would be wrong to push someone out of his way because he wanted to see Austin again.

He closed the last file on his desk and grabbed his bag. At least the team didn't have a case so he didn't feel like he was deserting them. He glanced up at Hotch's office and saw that the light was still on. Maybe he should go up there and say something. Hotch had been working around the clock since Haley left ,and Reid thought that this couldn't be healthy, but what could he say to make his boss go home and sleep. If he did go up there, what could he say? He wasn't good at things like that. It made his stomach all squishy inside.

He sighed loudly, Hotch would be okay. He always survived whatever life gave him. It would be okay if he didn't go up there. Hotch wouldn't know that he'd considered it, so he wouldn't be mad if Reid didn't try.

He sighed again and headed up the stairs. He turned a corner and almost knocked over Agent Stark. He was a very tall, blond haired man with bright green eyes. He was built bigger than Morgan and had been a member of another BAU team longer than Reid.

"S-sorry…"

"No sweat Dr. Reid… Don't you ever go home?" He smiled winningly at the younger man.

"I was just on my way home."

"No hot date tonight?"

"N-no, I'm just going to hang out at home."

There was no way that he was going to tell Stark about Austin. The bigger man had nearly the same reputation with women that Morgan did.

"Yeah, it's nice not to be out on a case." Stark said and his eyes twinkled brightly at the younger man.

"So, um I'll see you later."

"Yeah sure… Listen, before you go, I wanted to ask you something."

Reid's eyebrows went into his hair. What could this guy, who looked like an escaped linebacker for the Red Skins want with him?

"I know it's late, but I was hoping to get your opinion on a profile I'm trying to build for the SFPD. They've got a serial that looks like a copy cat for the Zodiac killer. I don't know, I think the letter they got is the real thing."

Reid stopped in his tracks from following the older man back to the bull pen. "But that isn't possible, that case is over thirty years old."

"I know, but there's a letter they got that makes me think it could be true."

Reid felt his pulse skyrocket. This couldn't be real! But what if it was? What if he could help identify the most successful and as yet uncaught serial killer in history…? But he couldn't get distracted now. He'd promised Austin that he'd come visit her. If he looked at what Stark had received, he'd get distracted and maybe forget about Austin.

"Are you coming? Dr. Reid…"

"Sure… I'd love to look at it."

He made the decision. He'd take the time between now and his flight on Sunday to look over what Stark had received. He wouldn't let it totally distract him. It was probably a hoax from some fan out there or Zodiac groupie. There had been stuff like that received by the bureau before, and it would happen again.

"Right, the documents are down in QD. They've been analyzing the envelope and the paper. Right now it looks like it could be genuine, but I wanted you to look."

Reid followed the man onto the elevator. Agent Stark pushed the button for second floor. "But why ask for me, there are other profilers, some of them that are retired, that are experts on this case. I'm only a very interested amateur."

"My boss has read the papers you've published about the Zodiac killer. He feels you're the best man for the job."

Reid felt his face getting hot. "I just wrote my opinion. I never claimed to be right about his true identity."

He looked up and saw they were just passing the 4th floor on the red digital readout on the panel. Excitement was curling up tighter in his gut as the elevator seemed to move too slowly for his impatience.

"Oh, don't worry my boss thinks you're the best in your field. Your team wouldn't know what to do without you."

"That's not _true_!

"I think it is. I've seen some of the case files you've closed recently and they'd be walking around bumping into walls without you."

"I don't agree. I'm going on vacation in a couple of days and I'll bet they don't even miss me."

"Well, I suppose your right. Anyway, you can look at what we have and I'm sure Hotch will be happy to have your opinion before you leave. He highly values what you have to say on any case. It's easy to see that."

The elevator passed the number three and his stomach began to churn a little. He was going to see new evidence on a case that had baffled profilers for over a third of a century. Maybe it was all for nothing, but Austin would be so impressed by it no matter what.

"I think you don't give yourself enough credit. There are four profiling teams in the BAU and all of them would be happy to have you as part of their group."

Reid's face got hotter as the number switched to two, and the doors opened. "Anyway, it doesn't matter because I don't want to work with another team. I like where I am. Ah - no offense, I mean."

"None taken, I'm just glad you hadn't left for vacation."

He gestured for Reid to step out of the elevator ahead of him. Reid took two steps out and looked around the unfamiliar hallway. They had to be on the wrong floor. This wasn't the right hallway. He turned and began to say "Hey this isn't…" Then something hit the back of his neck and he crumpled down into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Reid woke to a screaming headache and a very tender bump at the base of his skull. He was lying draped across a bed, fully clothed. He sat up and instantly regretted the quick movement as he got very dizzy and his stomach heaved. He took a couple of deep breaths to try and steady his stomach, but it continued to churn till he lay back down on the bed. His eyes closed again and he stayed still till the dizziness and nausea passed. He experimented a few minutes later by opening one eye. When that didn't bring on another round of dizziness, he opened the other eye and carefully sat up again. The pain in his head gathered strength again, but he didn't feel as sick as he had upon waking.

He looked around the room. It seemed to be ordinary enough. The walls and ceiling were painted a light eggshell blue. There were fluffy looking white clouds painted on the ceiling. The carpet was royal blue under the bed he sat on holding his head and his stomach at the same time.

The space was very large. It was easily three times the size of his apartment. At one end of the room, the wall was covered with a bookcase that stretched all the way up to the ceiling. It was wooden and stained to look like mahogany. It was filled with books of all kinds. He shoved over to the edge of the bed and stood up, swaying like a new tree in a strong wind.

There were three doors, one to his right the other opposite the bookcase and a third right across the room from where he sat on the bed. He decided to test out his feet, and his stomach, to see if they would cooperate and find him a way out of here. He took a step forward and managed to stay on his feet. The headache was backing off a bit and he didn't feel quite so much like a newborn baby deer as he walked to the door. It was set into a wall that was built of block and concrete under the paint.

He jangled the door knob even though he knew that it would be locked. "Great, how the hell did this happen to me again."

The last thing he remembered was Agent Stark telling him that he had a new piece of evidence regarding the Zodiac case and then nothing but blackness. Had someone taken out Stark too, and then kidnapped him? How was it possible that he'd managed to get kidnapped inside the base?

"Because _you _are you, and _you_ seem to get into trouble more often than the average unsupervised two year old child!"

His voice was rough and he felt parched. He looked to his left at the other door. He wondered what was behind it. Maybe it was a bathroom with a sink to get a drink of water. He went to the door and it opened easily onto a very large bathroom with a toilet, sink, bathtub and a separate shower incased in carved glass. The tub was jetted, and there were several bottles of bath salts, as though the person that had taken him knew his preference for bubble baths after a stressful day. Well, there was no way he was getting into that tub anytime soon.

He turned back to the sink and picked up the drinking glass that sat on the vanity top next to the sink. The vanity was dark grey marble and the fixtures were bronze, polished to a high sheen. The toilet, bathtub and shower were done in light pink, an attempt to warm the room, but it only made it look like some mad child had decorated the room.

Everything looked brand new to his eyes. It was much nicer than the place he lived in and curiously devoid of windows to the outside world. It made him feel closed in, trapped, and buried alive. He supposed that was what the men that took him wanted him to feel. His heart was thumping loud enough to be heard all around the room. No one else was there to hear it, he reminded himself.

Austin, she was suddenly smiling in his mind. What day was it? How long had he been out? What if he'd been out for days? Would she be mad if he didn't show up in Atlanta? Would she care? He swallowed again and his throat burned and throbbed with thirst.

"Stop worrying about her and start thinking about how to get out of here."

He picked up the water glass and filled it from the sink. The water tasted clean enough. He doubted they would grab him just to kill him. The room had obviously been decorated for comfort, but for whose comfort? Surely not just for him, maybe someone else had been held here. Had the other person or persons survived?

He was shivering. He ran the water till it was almost too hot to touch and splashed over his face. There was no need to think about death. Someone would come back and tell him what they wanted with him. What if was someone like Tobias? He hadn't been logical or sane! What if he had been captured for purposes he didn't want to think about?

He filled the glass again and drank it down in several fast swallows that made his head spin and feel light like a balloon. There was no reason to think that someone like Tobias was behind this. The room was made for comfort not torture. Still, he looked down could see his arms pinned back and restrained. He closed his eye and shuddered. His foot began to throb where it had broken under the 'gentle' ministrations of Tobias Henkel.

He screwed up his eyes tightly closed and breathed in the smell of nothing in the room. There were no fish hearts burning on the stove, there was no smell of his own body order or his fear that Rafael had seemed to feed on. This was different! The pain in his foot eased and he unclenched his hands that had turned to fists. His nails had left marks in his palms, almost drawing blood. He looked down at them and watched the white crescents turn pink again.

He needed to look around for something to help him get out of this room. Speculating on why he was here was unimportant. It was time to find away out of the room.

The towel rack was metal and screwed so tightly to the wall he figured it could withstand a nuclear explosion. He wasn't going to be able to use it was a weapon. He looked under the sink, but it was devoid of any of the cleaning chemicals he might use to throw in someone's face. There were bars of soap, but what good would that do to someone with a lousy throwing arm.

He paused to get his breath from his frantic search and look at his face in the mirror above the sink. It was a round mirror and it showed a man with a wild look in his eyes and hair standing on end from where he'd run his hands through it. The grey dress shirt he wore was wrinkled on one side and his charcoal tie was askew. His vest was gone and his grey cords were a bit wrinkled.

He went back to the main room and noticed a royal blue leather couch along one wall with a coffee table in front of it that was made from thick glass and metal. It was round and sparkling clean as though it had been recently polished. It also looked like it wouldn't be easily broken, not without something large and heavy. The carpet was so clean he could believe it had been laid that day. He noticed while looking at the carpet, that his shoes were gone. He walked around in one blue sock and one white and green stripped sock. So much for the good luck his mismatched socks were supposed to bring.

He stood in the middle of the room turning slow circles, but there was no way out. There was nothing he could see or touch that would help him escape from the room. The painting of a seascape at night on the far wall wouldn't help him. It was all just a cozy nest that he was trapped in like a bird in a cage.

The door opened and he spun around, going for his gun which he realized way too late was gone. Agent Stark entered the room and shut the door. His Glock was pointed at Reid's chest. He smiled at the young agent as though they were the best of friends. So it was the agent that had hit him over the head and brought him here. His hands turned to fists again.

"Hello Dr. Reid… It's good to see you on your feet."

"Why am I here?"

"All in good time… In the meantime, please enjoy your accommodations."

He moved sideways to the door Reid hadn't explored yet in his frantic search for something to help him get out of the room. The agent opened the door and said, "We've brought in all of your clothes." He pointed to the big walk-in closet.

"All of your books are in the book case."

"I don't want to read… Why am I here?"

"You're very single minded Dr. Reid."

"And you're hiding something."

"That's true, but only because the boss man wants to explain your new station in life to you himself."

"Why don't you tell me about it?" Reid changed tactics and smiled broadly at the man in front of him. He tried to ignore the gun still pointing at his chest. It wouldn't do to panic now.

"I don't think so Dr. Reid. I'm a profiler, just like you are, and I know the tricks you use to get inside another person's head. Now, why don't you make yourself comfortable and Calloway will be in here to talk to you very soon." He left the room and Reid in silence.

---

Calloway entered the large room and surveyed the wall of computers and monitors he'd had set up next to where Reid was staying. The pinhole camera that was set up in the room where the good doctor waited was showing the room at all angles. He watched the young doctor look over the room, trying to find away to escape, but the young man wouldn't find a way out. He was a guest of the team indefinitely. Not even his own team would be able to find him and Calloway would take his place as the leader of the most successful profiling team in the world, while Agent Hotchner wasted his time trying to find Dr. Spencer Reid.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Reid paced the confines of his new prison. The carpet whispered under his stocking feet. He figured he only heard it because the silence of the room was so deep. It was way too creepy.

He'd tried the door again, but it was locked. It was like he'd dropped into a bad television drama. This was something that could only happen in the fictional world of the movies or television.

"Unless you let someone stroke your ego and lead you away like the lamb to slaughter!"

He threw himself down on the bed and put one arm over his eyes. He wasn't the kind to let personal glory rule his head and his gut. He should have known that something wasn't right with Agent Stark's story, but someone had obviously done their homework.

"Yeah, or they just read your article. It isn't hard to figure out an obsession when you hand it to people on a silver platter with an invitation that says 'why don't you come and get me?' wrapped up in a bright red bow."

He lifted his arm off his face and looked up at the fake sky over his head. He'd only been here for maybe a couple of hours… At least he hoped it was a couple of hours. He'd been here for a short time and already the painted ceiling was getting on his nerves. Who painted a ceiling like that? It was like some gross parody of a summer sky. Who would want something like that in a room like this?

Stop wondering about the motives of the interior decorators and start thinking about how you're going to get out of this. Yeah… all he had to do was outsmart a fellow profiler. That was no problem… He could do that in his sleep.

"Yeah and the last time you were so confident, you got cold cocked over the head, and locked in this room that looked like it belonged in a really bad horror movie about someone trying to drive some poor young guy crazy." He shivered and then tried to laugh it off.

Okay, talking to himself was getting out of hand.

"It's only a sign of insanity if you answer yourself."

Well, if he didn't get out of here soon that was a distinct possibility!

He got up and walked to the far end of the room. He decided to walk a straight line across the room and see how long it was, and then he'd find out how wide it was, and then…

"What are you going to do then genius? How about focusing on the problem at hand?"

He walked to the far corner of the room and began inspecting the walls. They were concrete block and had to be pretty thick because he couldn't hear anything at all outside the room. He supposed he could try shouting, but he'd probably end up with a very sore throat and nothing to show for it.

"Hey…" He shouted as loud as he could, and nothing happened.

That was smart!

He followed the wall around the room. He skirted the couch, and the coffee table, and then the bed at the other end of the room before ending with the locked door. There was nothing to use to escape. The carpet was tight to the floor. The walls were solid, no cracks anywhere. He went to the closet. Agent Stark was right; all of his clothes were there. How had the Agent got into his home?

"They're FBI just like you. You're not the only one that can pick a lock."

The strange thing about the closet was that none of his clothes were hanging up in the large space. Instead there were clear plastic containers and everything, including all of his shoes, was in boxes that were stacked up against the walls.

He went back into the room and to the foot of the bed. His messenger bag was there with his ready bag. His I pod was in the front pocket of his messenger bag. He pulled it out, and stuck the ear buds into his ears. He set the volume up to ear drum shattering levels. It was better than listening to all the silence around him. He would lie down and shut his eyes. If he looked at the back of his eyelids, rather then that distracting sky, he might be able to think of some way to get out of this trap.

He lay down and closed his eyes while Guns and Roses started to sing "Knocking on Heaven's Door." The first thing he needed to do was profile his captors. Once he knew what made Agent Stark tick, he'd have some kind of idea what they wanted from him. Agent Stark had also mentioned an Agent Calloway. He remembered seeing Calloway in the bullpen. He'd been average build, and average height, with dark hair and light brown eyes. He was ordinary looking in every way and he'd been the bane of Gideon's existence when the older agent was still with the Bureau. Now if Reid could just remember what it was about the man that had been so irritating to his old mentor…

All the facts and statistics that he knew about the other profilers that worked in the Bureau went round and round in his head and soon his eyes closed in sleep. His breathing evened out and became deep. His eyes moved rapidly behind his lids. One ear bud fell out of his ear. The tinny sound of heavy metal whispered into the room and was soon drowned out by the pervasive silence.

---

The eyes that watched the young profiler sleep were cold and calculating. The young Dr. Reid could sleep now, but soon he'd have to do his job for a different team. The young man believed that he'd never trust and cooperate with his new team, but that would all change. He had the necessary pressure points all lined up to use. The young doctor had his weaknesses just like everyone else and the smart man was the one that new how to exploit them for his own means.

He picked up the phone. "It's Calloway. Did you do what I asked? Yes, I want the surveillance to begin tonight on all the subjects. Don't argue with me. I'll explain all the expenditures of man power. No, but the one I answer too could end your career like that. Don't you dare threaten me. You came to me and you're being well paid. That's better; I thought your attitude would improve with a little reminder. Now go do your job. When this is over, we'll all be a lot better off."

Calloway slapped his phone shut and went back to the computer room. Soon the rest of his team would be joining him and they could begin in earnest.

---

Austin put the plastic bags from the grocery store on the counter top. She hated to cook for one person and normally lived on frozen dinners and take out, but now it was time to dust off her limited cooking skills and put together something really delicious for Spencer.

She unloaded the ingredients for the only dish she could make really well and that was lasagna. She hoped that Spencer liked it. It was her grandmother's recipe with a special secret ingredient that she'd been sworn as a child never to reveal.

She pulled out candles and two new candle holders she'd found in the supermarket. They were carved crystal that looked like roses in full bloom. She set them aside to wash and polish before she put the white tapers in them.

There was a new tablecloth she'd picked up at Kitchens and Stuff. It had everything from vacuums, to flatware, on sale. The tablecloth looked like someone had woven moonbeams into the silvery fabric. It was slick, and shiny, and looked great with the candles and the new dishes she bought. The plates were red with scalloped edges. The glasses were crystal, and the silverware was brand new. She had all of this stuff on hand, but she wanted to impress Spencer by making everything look nice for him.

She stopped and looked at the results of her impromptu shopping spree. Why was it so important to impress him? She'd never gone to this much trouble for a man and was puzzled by the need to do so with Spencer. He wasn't the type of man she'd dated in the past. He was much different from any of her boyfriends. Still, he'd saved her life, but it was more than that, there was something in his eyes that called to her. It tugged on her heart. She wanted to know why the pull was so strong.

She pulled out her phone and called him. He wasn't going to arrive until the next day, but she really wanted to hear his voice and be sure that he was actually going to come and see her. If she could only see him again, maybe the nightmares would go way.

The phone went straight to voice mail. She hoped that his team hadn't been called away on a case.

"Hey Spencer… It's Austin. I know I just talked to you yesterday, but I just wanted to hear your voice again. I hope you'll indulge the neurotic gal and call me back. If you're on a case, call me when you get the chance. I hope you can still make it down here."

She slapped the phone shut and began loading the dishwasher with all her new dishes. Soon she was whistling a happy tune and the nightmares that had plagued her were far away. Spencer would be there tomorrow and he'd help her banish them forever.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: See my profile for a blanket disclaimer and warnings**_

Agent Stephen Calloway left his office and strode past the nearly empty bullpen. It was Saturday night, and as always, the only person in the office was Aaron Hotchner. Calloway snuck a look at the man with his head of dark hair bent over his desk.

_You think you're so smart, but I've taken your best man right out from under your nose._

He tried to squash the feeling of glee that bubbled up in his chest. It made him want to laugh and to dance along the hallway that led past Hotch's office. He wanted to jump up and down and cheer, but he didn't, it was too risky. There was always the chance that Aaron Hotchner would look up and see him there, celebrating like a ten year old boy with his first two-wheeled bike.

He passed another office whose door was open when he walked by. It was the office of Hotchner's personal tech or so the others called her, half in spite, and half in jest. She was one of those people he'd only heard about, the ones the Bureau put on a special watch list. He always thought whenever he saw her that she was nothing special. She was pudgy, with blond hair she regularly colored in every color of the rainbow. Her clothes were so far out of the dress code, it was a wonder she wasn't fired. Hotchner didn't seem to care though. If the truth was known, he probably got his jollies looking at her cleavage.

He stepped on the elevator. His team was meeting in the same location as Dr. Reid and it wouldn't do for him to be late. A leader must be punctual at all times, or so his sainted mother had told him. She used to say if you were late, you wouldn't accomplish anything in this life. He pushed back his black hair and grinned. Mother would be very proud of him soon.

---

Agent Eugene F Stark stepped into the huge conference room. The one table in the room was twelve feet long, and polished wood, with ergonomically correct office chairs sitting around it upholstered in blue patterned fabric. The walls were hung with matching blue fabric. The carpet was also blue. A group of people sat around it waiting for Calloway.

"He doesn't look like a profiler. He looks like a college student that wandered in from Georgetown University." Agent Helen Curtis was observing when Stark entered the room. "He looks harmless." She ran a hand through her light brown hair and frowned.

"He's not harmless, and you'd do well to remember that." Agent William Brooks stated, while flexing his perfectly manicured hands. His muddy green eyes were full of something like derision while he talked about the young doctor.

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Ramirez said worriedly. "We can't expect to keep him here forever. Don't you think that someone, namely his team, won't notice that he's gone?" The very tall, very skinny Hispanic man gestured wildly around with his hands as he talked.

"All of you shut up and pay attention." Calloway entered the room and glared them all down in turn before taking his place at the head of the table. "We all agreed on this plan and it has been enacted for better or worse. He can't get out of that room and there's no way for him to contact his team. His cell phone won't work and he doesn't have access to a computer from that room."

"He's a genius Calloway… You can't say that he won't find a way out of here."

"Then let's give him something to keep his mind occupied."

"I agree with Calloway. We did this for a reason. It's time that Agent Hotchner and his team were displaced from their position in the Bureau." Stark said.

"Stark's right, Hotchner's team has received special treatment for long enough. I'll bet that Strauss boots him out for Agent Reid's loss. He won't be able to talk his way out of this one. As for all of you, I would remind you the reasons for which we are doing this." He looked over at Helen as he spoke. "Your mother needs full time care and nursing homes are expensive. Medicare will only pay so much. Remember that the money you're getting for this assignment will take care of her for the rest of her life."

Agent Curtis opened her mouth and then fell silent at a look from Calloway. Brooks laughed and Calloway turned on him. "Remember the loan sharks I saved you from. If the bureau were to find out about your little problem, you'd be out of here like that." He snapped his fingers.

"Enough of this," Stark said.

"Stark is right, for better of worse, you're all mine now. Get used to it!" He snapped at them.

Calloway's phone beeped. _"You better come down here." _A voice said over the speaker.

"What's wrong?"

"_There's something wrong with Dr. Reid." _

"I don't have time for cryptic games."

"_Just come done here and see for yourself," the voice insisted._

"This better be an emergency or you'll be out of here on your ass with no money."

"I said it was important."

Calloway shut his phone, "Let's go…" He said, leaving the room without waiting for a reply from his team. The others got out of their chairs and followed their boss out the door.

---

_Reid stepped out of the sleeve that connected the exit of the plane to the gate at Atlanta airport. The sky outside the airport was sunlit. The bright light from the sun outside was cut by the tinted windows all around the gates. Airplanes landed and took off as he walked toward the baggage claim. The sky was blue and white with fluffy clouds that made a shiver shoot up his back as he looked out over all the passengers crowding the hallway. _

_When he looked back to the hallway, he was suddenly in front of the entrance to the airport. His suitcase was in his hand and his bag over his shoulder. Austin was standing there and she was smiling like she had when she'd pulled his business card out of her hair. _

"_Spencer…"_

_Her voice sounded like it was coming down a tunnel from far away. He could barely hear her. She called out again and her smile looked like it had been painted on her face. _

_He walked toward her, faster and faster, but the distance remained constant. Then he hit the double doors at the entrance to the airport and burst through them. He was breathing like he'd run ten miles at full speed. _

_He looked up and the sky was black with millions of stars over head. "Austin…" He yelled. _

_The airport was gone, and the rustle of corn stalks took the place of car engines and people talking and shouting to one another. A cold breeze was blowing and in the distance dogs barked and someone screamed. _

"_Austin…" He yelled and ran through the corn toward the barn. Something told him not to run that way, but he couldn't leave her there screaming. _

"_Help me Spencer." Her voice was muffled as though stuffed with cotton, or covered with duct tape, a voice said in his ear. _

_He turned toward her voice and the voice that had spoken in his ear. Austin lay on her back on the ground. Tobias Henkel stood over her, his gun pointed at her head. The dogs growled and barked again. The three of them surrounded Reid, Tobias and Austin, who was crying. _

"_Help me Spencer…"_

"_Shut up you little bitch." _

_Tobias reared back and kicked her in the ribs. She screamed and the dogs howled. Blood caked their muzzles and their necks. Their eyes blazed as they turned on Reid. _

"_Choose which one will die." Tobias was looking at him. _

"_I chose myself." _

"_Choose which one will die."_

_Now JJ lay on the ground next to Austin. She was heavily pregnant again and her arm was bleeding into the ground. The dogs growled and advanced on her. _

"_No… I choose myself, let them go!" _

_Emily took JJ's place. "I already took a beating for you. Do I have to die for you now?" She shouted at him. The dogs moved closer and skinned back their teeth. _

_Austin screamed and Tobias demanded. "Which one of them will die in your place, Satan?"_

"_I choose myself," It came out in a whisper that couldn't be heard above the rustle of the corn in the wind and the growling of the dogs. _

_Emily became Hotch, and Hotch morphed into Rossi, who turned into Garcia, and then into Morgan and lastly into Gideon, they all begged for their lives from him. Tears were running down his face and the dogs were standing over Austin. They waited for their master to loose them on her. Gideon disappeared and Rafael said. "Which one do you choose?"_

"_I choose myself… Please don't hurt her. I choose myself." He shouted as loud as he could. _

"_No… She dies…" Austin looked up at Spencer who ran toward her with legs that felt like they were in quicksand. "NO…" _

_Austin changed into Reid's mother as the dogs attacked. Tobias laughed and the dogs howled. Reid screamed and the sky changed. His mother's screams faded, and the sky was blue and white over his head again. _

"No… I won't choose… I won't choose. Take me instead."

His throat was raw and tears were smeared on his cheeks. The sky overhead was the ceiling of his prison he realized and it had all been a horrible dream. He was stuck in this room, and suddenly the thought came to him that maybe it was better that he was here. Perhaps his captors were doing the world, and his friends, a favor by keeping him here. No one could be hurt because of him, ever again, if he was trapped in this prison. He'd pay that price willingly to keep them safe. It was a small price to pay.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: see my profile.**_

"What the hell is wrong?" Calloway demanded of the dark haired man who was manning the surveillance room.

"I don't know… He'd been talking in his sleep for half an hour now."

"What's he been saying?'

"I can't make most of it out. I know some of the names he was saying. They were mostly his team and someone named Tobias."

"Tobias Henkel. He's the man that kidnapped him a couple of years ago. I read the case file. He was beaten, tortured and drugged by this man." Calloway said.

"And you didn't think to tell us about it." Ramirez complained.

"I didn't think I had to. You're supposed to be familiar with everything about him. I told you all to read his case files and learn _everything_!" Calloway was shouting.

"Who has time for all of that extra reading? We've been swamped with work!"

Calloway rounded on Ramirez, "Nothing is more important than making Dr. Reid one of us."

"I don't like the idea of kidnapping him. We should have just asked Agent Hotchner -"

"Don't mention that name to me!"

"Calloway…"

"You stay out of this Stark. We agreed to take this step and it's done. If one of us goes down for this, we all go down. Is that understood?"

The others nodded, but Ramirez still looked unsure. Calloway turned back to the tech that was watching Dr. Reid. "What else has he been doing?'

"Just looking around the room, trying to find a way out."

Calloway laughed, "He'll have a tough time find a way out of that room. Is everything ready?" He abruptly changed the subject.

"Yes… everything is set up. She won't be able to make a move, or a key stroke, without my knowing about it."

"Good… Stark you've got the first watch. Take him something to eat and keep an eye on him."

Stark left the room with its banks of computers and television monitors. The others followed Calloway out of the room and down the long, concrete block hallway to the elevators.

"Go home and go about your lives like you always do. It won't do for us to give anyone reason to suspect that we know anything about Dr. Reid's disappearance.

"Speaking of that… What are we going to do when he doesn't show up in Florida?" Ramirez asked as they boarded the elevator car.

"Don't worry I have it covered."

---

Reid sat on the bed looking down at his trembling hands. The nightmare had left him feeling shaky and jumpy. It was worst dream he'd had in weeks. In fact, Tobias hadn't made an appearance in his dreams for months. Why now? Why this feeling of utter hopelessness?

Abruptly his shaky feelings turned to anger. He leapt off the bed and began to pace up and down. His thoughts whirled and jumped through his head like a gymnast executing a particularly difficult floor exercise.

His mother's face appeared in the middle of all the anger that was building in his gut. He could hear her telling him about how she'd gone off her meds when she was pregnant with him. How she'd lived every day in terror, but she'd made it through.

Hadn't those ten months been like a kind of prison for her? And yet, she'd survived and given him life. What would she say if he just lay down and refused to fight for his life and freedom? She'd give him a piece of her mind, just as she had to Dr. Norman when he'd asked him if he could stay with him. She'd been scary, and even now, he wasn't sure if she'd been kidding or not. If not, then he'd better get his act together and throw off the despair that had tried to suck him under its power.

The members of his team made their own appearances in his head while he paced the room. He could only imagine what Hotch, or Morgan, or Garcia would say. Emily wouldn't be pleased and JJ would kick his butt in gear too. It was time to end the self pity and think.

The profilers were just another variety of un-sub. He was sure that there were more then Stark and Calloway behind this little set up. The question was who did he try to manipulate first? He needed more data and that meant more time spent with both men. Who would be the one to bring him his meal? He hoped it was Calloway.

He made another turn around the room and this time took a closer look at his surroundings. He felt like he was being watched, had felt like this since the moment he'd first woken in the room. He didn't blame Calloway. He was right to watch his prisoner. Reid looked up from under his eyebrows and thought about the covert surveillance classes he'd took when he'd joined the BAU and the refresher courses he'd taken once a year. He looked up at the corners of the room and finally noticed the small pin-hole cameras in the crown molding. You'd never see them unless you knew what to look for, but they were there.

So, someone was watching him, and perhaps listening. He went to the bathroom and shut the door. A quick inspection of the room made him believe that Stark and his cohorts didn't have a camera in here to invade his privacy. He could use that to his advantage, but he didn't know how. His phone was missing when he'd searched his bag, so there was no way to call. He wasn't sure that he was above ground or in a place that had cell towers. He could be anywhere in the United States or any anywhere else for that matter.

Think…

He started to say it out loud and then shut his mouth. Then he opened it again, he might as well figure out if they could hear, or see him, in this room.

"I'm not going to cooperate so you might as well let me out of here." He said in a perfectly normal tone of voice.

He waited and nothing happened for five long minutes that he counted off on his watch. He looked up at the ceiling and screwed stuck out his tongue at the ceiling. Five more minutes passed and nothing happened. Either, they couldn't see him, or the cameras were only meant for the living room. He decided it was the latter rather than the former, which was good because he needed to relieve his distended bladder.

By the time he exited the bathroom a small plan was forming in his head. It probably wouldn't work immediately, but he had to get out of here and it was his best option for now.

---

When Stark opened the door half an hour later, Reid was calmly reading "Gulliver's Fugitives," the third book he'd begun since coming out of the bathroom. It was one of those books you could find written about the television series "Stark Trek: The Next Generation." He was just at the part where Captain Picard was about to have his memory erased.

"Dr. Reid… How are you?"

Stark had his Glock in one hand and a tray of food in the other. He put the tray down on the coffee table and smiled the same smile that had fooled Reid in the bullpen.

"Did you know that I can read twenty thousand words per minute?"

The smile faltered a bit on Starks face, and then he rallied. "Yeah… everyone in the BAU knows of your talents."

Reid held up the book he was reading. "Did you know that there are over one thousand books in print and on-line written for Star Trek? The average person, reading all day every day, would need at least two years to get through all of them. I could do it in about six months. Of course, I've already read everything there is on-line and about a third of the books in print, so that's takes about six weeks off my estimate. I'm halfway through his book and will finish it in about five minutes. That book case over there has all the books from my library and I see you provided me with a few more. How long to you think they'll keep me occupied? What am I going to do to keep myself occupied when the books are all read? I have an eidetic memory you know. Re-reading the books wouldn't be very exciting at this point. I could get very bored and make a nuisance of myself."

Stark had listened to this explanation without comment. "You're not here to sit and do nothing. Calloway and my team have a use for you."

"Really, is it the Zodiac again," Reid said sarcastically.

"No… Calloway will give you your assignment all in good time."

"Hotch will be looking for me soon." Reid switched tactics.

Stark laughed, and it made Reid's blood run cold. "I don't think he will. You see, you're going to make sure that he doesn't or your father will suffer the consequences."

Cold pushed up Reid's spine, but he looked Stark right in the eye. "I don't care what you do to my dad. I parted ways with him quite awhile ago."

"That's not what Calloway learned. You had a reunion with dear old dad just a few weeks ago. I heard you patched things up."

"You heard wrong… He's an irresponsible coward. I'm only sorry I didn't get the chance to lock him up."

The smile had turned into a frozen mask on Stark's face. "Well… we'll just see about that. In the meantime I have orders to take you to a secure phone where you're going to make a series of phone calls that will convince everyone that you have a terrible emergency."

"Why would I do that?'

"Because even if you don't care about your dad, you do care about your mom, and your team, and little baby Henry, and then there's that beautiful girl in Atlanta. You wouldn't want anything to happen to her, would you?"

Reid leapt to his feet. "You won't touch any of them."

"Take it easy man." Stark brought the gun up and pointed it straight at Reid. The young man had no chance to try any of the moves he'd been practicing with Morgan. "Eat your dinner and then we'll deal with your phone calls.

He pushed Reid back on the couch and backed out the door. "Get used to it Dr. Reid. You're here to stay.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

Stark led Reid out of the room and down the hall to the computer room. Reid's hands were cuffed together and Stark followed closely with his Glock trained on the young profiler's back. The young man was being stubborn. He'd left his tray untouched and he'd refused to talk when Stark came back to the room. He had a look on his face that Stark didn't like.

"Remember, no tricks or someone you love is going to be very sorry!"

He shoved the gun into Reid's back and the young man stumbled a bit in the hallway. They turned right, then left and then walked for another five minutes before another right and then left turn. The first door to Reid's right was open. He turned inside and looked around the room. There were at least seven different computer monitors stacked around the only work station that was in use. The others were blank, as though someone had set up an office space and then abandoned it before completion. There were several office chairs and one large table to the right of the doorway. The room was windowless, just like Reid's room. It was dimly lit, but bright enough for them to see the face of the man with dark hair that was working at the computers.

He turned around when they entered the room and Reid's eyes went wide. "You…" He shouted at the man.

"Hello Dr. Reid," Kevin Lynch said.

Reid's eyes narrowed and Kevin flinched away. "Does Garcia know you're here?"

"No… and she won't know until it's too late."

"I knew something wasn't right about you."

"No you didn't, I fooled all of you."

Reid walked up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt with his cuffed hands. "I'm not a door buster like Morgan so I'll just say that when he finds out what you've done, he'll hurt you in ways I won't contemplate."

He let the man go and Kevin fell back against his chair. "You won't get the chance."

"Don't underestimate me. Garcia is my best friend! I won't stand by and let you hurt her."

"You can't do anything to stop it." Kevin was smiling up at him like a shark on the hunt. "When I agreed to help Calloway pull this off, he promised to pay me very well. When I realized that I'd get to bang your best friend, I almost told Calloway that I'd do this for free."

Reid tried to grab Kevin again, but Stark held him back. "Remember you've got a gun in your back and we have eyes everywhere Dr. Reid.

Kevin's arms were folded over his chest and the smile he wore reminded Reid of the students that tied him to the goal posts of his high school football field. It was that same predatory gleam all those the kids had worn to torment him.

"You see Dr. Reid, once this is over and I've blocked all your teams' attempts to find anything that would help locate you, I'm going to take Penelope away from all this. The money I'm getting will give us a new start. "

"She'll never leave the BAU!"

"Oh I think she will."

"She'll hate you for this!"

"Enough…" Stark shoved his gun hard into Reid's back, and yanked him away like you would a child from a hot stove. "Stop stalling and make your phone calls."

"I'm not doing anything with Lynch in the room."

"Yes you will," Stark shook him like a rag doll.

"No… tell Lynch to leave."

Reid stood his ground and stared down Stark for long minutes before Stark told Lynch to get lost. "Gladly…" Kevin said.

After Lynch disappeared, Stark gave Reid a cell phone. "Call Hotchner first…." He commanded.

----

Austin listened again to the last message she'd got from Spencer. It was stupid for her to listen to it over and over. After all he'd be there soon, so why keep listening to a message from the day before. It was like being in high school, but she couldn't help it.

"Hi Austin… It's Reid, I mean Spencer… So I got tickets for the noon flight out of DC. I'll been there around three thirty." There had been a long pause after that and she'd thought he'd hung up then he said: "I miss you," really fast before hanging up without a goodbye. She could almost hear him blushing over the phone. It was so cute.

She put the phone down and smiled at the empty room. She'd just finished cleaning the entire apartment from top to bottom. She'd only intended to clean up the eating nook, kitchen and living room, but as often happened, once she got started; she couldn't stop till it was done. And, she wanted to prove to herself that she could do something normal like clean without getting freaked out because of her kidnapping.

It had been hard to pull the Comet out from under the sink and clean the counter tops. The smell of the cleaning chemical had made her sick to her stomach. Then she'd remembered how Spencer had saved her. She thought about the warmth that had surrounded her when he put his arms around her to help her to her feet. His hair had smelled like baby shampoo which hadn't surprised her for some reason. She thought about the first time she'd seen him and how arresting his eyes were. It was like looking into the eyes of an innocent child, and the eyes of an old man who'd seen too much. It was a contradiction that fascinated her.

When she wanted to throw out everything that remotely smelled like cleaning chemicals, she remembered his voice and the cute little squeak it had in the voice message. So she got through the cleaning. Now that he was coming to see her, the nightmares would go away too, she was sure.

She tried calling him once more, but the call went right to voice mail again. She looked at the phone and wondered if he were okay. Maybe he wasn't where he could hear the phone, or maybe he was in the bathroom, or cooking and ignoring the phone. There were lots of reasons for him not to return her call. She wasn't going to let it bother her. He'd call her back and everything would be okay.

---

Hotch pulled into the driveway of the new, smaller home he'd bought in McLean, near to Haley. She'd been unhappy with his move, but he insisted on being near Jack. It was eight pm on Saturday night and he'd just returned Jack to his mom after a day of play and total immersion in his little boy's life.

He was opening the door to his house when his phone rang. He dropped the keys on the entry table and keyed off the alarm.

"Hotchner…"

"Hotch, it's Reid."

"Reid… I thought you were getting ready to go on vacation."

"I am… Something happened though; I got a call from Bennington an hour ago. My mom is sick and she's asking to see me."

"Is she okay?'

"Yeah… but she's giving her doctors and the nurse's trouble. She keeps asking for me and gets violent when they tell her I'm not in Las Vegas. I want to spend a few days in Las Vegas before I go to Atlanta."

"I'll get Garcia to book your flight."

"No… I already took care of that. Actually I'm already at the airport. I just got into the parking lot. My flight leaves at ten I'll be getting into Vegas after 3 am tomorrow morning."

"Alright Reid, are you sure everything is okay?'

"Yeah… I'm just a little anxious to see my mom."

"I understand… Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks Hotch."

"Take care of yourself Reid…"

"I will…"

The phone went dead and Hotch frowned down at it. He'd walked to his bedroom without thinking about it and now stood in front of his dresser. There were several photos of his son and at one corner a group photo of the team at the last Fourth of July picnic for the Bureau.

It was the first time they'd all been together after the events of Reid's kidnapping in Georgia. He stood next to Hotch wearing a tee shirt and jeans which had surprised everyone. Hotch had put on jeans too and taken quite a ribbing from Rossi and Morgan. Both he and Reid smiled for the camera. It was the first time Hotch had really let go and smiled in front of the team. It was the first time Reid had smiled in months and he looked like a delighted child. Emily was on the other side of Reid. Garcia, JJ and Rossi were sitting in front of them and Morgan stood on the other side of Hotch. They all looked so happy together. It had been a welcome respite from all the horrors of the job.

His thoughts went back to Reid, who'd sounded very upset. "Of course he's upset… You would be too if your mother was in an institution!"

But there was more to it than just his mother, he thought, as he stripped off the tee shirt and jeans he'd put on to take Jack to the park. There was something else in Reid's voice.

He went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. There was something else bothering Reid. What was it?

"Stop worrying, you're not his father."

Well, that was true, but Reid's father had deserted him. His young agent didn't have anyone else but the team. Maybe that wasn't a good thing. Maybe they all needed someone outside the job. It was why he pushed Reid to go see Austin for a good long visit. If anything was bothering Reid, she'd help him get through it.

He got in the hot water and let it run over his back as he tried not to think about the new guy in Haley's life and how much Jack liked the guy. He let it pound on his head and tried not to think about how unhappy Reid had sounded. Everything would work itself out in time and then the team would be back and better than ever.

---

Austin ran to her phone. She'd just got out of the shower. Water dripped from her hair, and from her bare legs under the fluffy yellow towel she wore.

"Hello…" She was breathless and crossed her fingers that it was Spencer.

_"Hi Austin…"_

"Spencer…" Unreasonable happiness rushed through her, raising gooseflesh on her arms.

_"I had an emergency come up… I have to go to Nevada to see my mom. She's sick and, well, I'll explain it when I see you."_

Her heart dropped, but sympathy overrode her upset. She remembered when her beloved grandmother had got very sick and ended up in the hospital before dying from pneumonia related complications.

"Will she be okay?"

_"Yeah… um, listen I didn't want to do this over the phone and I'll understand if you don't want to see me again. My mom is in a sanitarium. She has," Austin heard the click of his throat as he swallowed hard. "She's bipolar and has to have twenty four hour care."_

"I'm sorry Spencer."

_"So, I'll see you in a few days."_

She could hear the question in his voice. She wanted to be mad that he would doubt her, but there was something in his voice…

"Yeah… Call me when you can leave your mom."

Relief was so palpable in his voice she could feel it seeping through the phone. _"Thanks Austin."_

"I'll miss you Spencer."

_"Me too,"_ and then the phone was dead and he was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n in the last chapter Reid told Austin his mother is bipolar. That was a deliberate mistake. The reason for it will be clear soon. Also the information on sensory depravation come from Wikipedia. **_

Reid put the book he'd just finished on top of the stack he'd read in the last forty-eight hours. He looked up at the sky that was painted on the ceiling.

_There's something so wrong with clouds on the ceiling. Who wanted to make a place like this resemble a summer sky? Why? Where have I seen this before? _

Pulling his eyes away from the ceiling, he went back to the stack of books he piled up next to the couch. _Why are they making me wait to tell me what they want? What is Calloway up to? If I have to sit here and read all day for one more day, I'm going to start freaking out!_

He looked down at his watch. It was seven, but whether it was seven am or pm, he wasn't entirely sure. _That's not true you know exactly what time it is. You're in denial my friend._

_No, I'm not in denial. I am about to die of terminal boredom. _

_Better then dying from a gunshot, or torture, or starvation…_

_Stop it! _

The key clicked in the lock and opened soundlessly, just like every other door he'd been through in this place. The sound startled him out of these morbid thoughts. The person that entered was one of the three other "team, "members he'd seen. He was tall and thin like Reid. He even had the same eyes, but his hair was darker brown then Reid's. His complexion spoke of Hispanic decent as did the faint Spanish accent. There were lines around his mouth and at his eyes as though he'd seen too much and done too much.

"I'm Agent Ramirez," He put the supper tray on the coffee table, but wore his gun at his hip.

Reid stayed silent, waiting for the agent to speak. Out of the three other agent's this was the only one that had spoken to him in three days.

Agent Ramirez shifted his feet and cleared his throat. His left hand rested on the gun he wore. His eyes darted away from Reid's as the young agent scrutinized him with his large guileless eyes.

"I'll be back for this later." He made to turn for the door.

"You don't want to be here," Reid said.

Ramirez stopped, but he didn't turn around. His shoulders were slumped, "Don't try profiler tricks on me. They won't work."

"I'm not trying to trick you."

Ramirez went to the door and then he turned around. "I would try to trick me if I were in your position."

"Actually, I'm sort of glad to have a vacation. I couldn't see it, but Hotch knew. I didn't want to take any time off. I love my job. It's the only constant thing in my life, or was the only constant thing. You see, a few weeks ago I met this woman… She's really beautiful, and smart, and brave. She even likes me for my nerdy self if you can believe that."

"I don't want to hear about it."

"Sorry, "Reid shrugged his shoulders and puffed out his lips. "I didn't mean to bore you with my life. I just thought we could get to know each other better. We are going to be here for awhile."

"Just what do you know about it?"

"Well, I sort of inferred that when your boss had me locked up in here. What I can't figure out is why he wants me here in the first place. You're profilers just like me. It's our job to catch the bad guys, not contribute to the problem."

"I'm not here to answer your questions."

"I know… I just thought we could have a discussion."

"We're not going to have a discussion Dr. Reid. You're stuck here till my boss determines your usefulness to us is over."

"How can I be useful to anyone when I'm stuck here?"

"Calloway will tell you all about it when he's ready."

"Did you know that prolonged sensory deprivation can result in anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, depression, and hostile behavior? Technically, what you're doing to me isn't really sensory deprivation. I mean all I'm really missing out on is talking to other people, or hearing other voices, and music or any other sound you might hear in a day. You come in here three times a day for meals, but otherwise I'm here all alone with nothing to do but read. Since I'm just missing the sense of hearing, all this might do me some good. Did you know that sensory deprivation in small doses can enhance creativity or problem solving? What do you think I might learn about all of you if the only thing I can put my brain to work on, is why I'm here? Normally I don't like to toot my own horn, but you do know that I'm a genius and so I can outthink you all on a normal day."

"Shut up!"

"I'm sorry I'm not trying to be confrontational. I just think that it's important for you to know what I'm capable of if I don't have anything else to distract me."

"You're trying to trick me again."

"No… I'm not trying to do anything. I'm merely stating the facts as I see them."

Ramirez unsnapped his holster and removed his Glock. "I don't want to use this but I will."

"I think you're overreacting," Reid said calmly.

"Perhaps you're not as smart as you think you are Dr. Reid."

"I know that you're watching my every move." Reid pointed out where the pinhole cameras were looking down on them. "What I'm not sure of is if you're listening to me."

"Why should I tell you if we are?"

"You don't have to tell me. You forget I'm one of you. I can tell when someone is lying."

The door opened again and Calloway stepped in with his gun on Reid. "Ramirez, I told you to leave the food, not engage the good doctor in conversation."

"Agent Calloway… Why am I here?" Reid immediately addressed Calloway and ignoring Ramirez.

"I think you've asked that question enough, to all of my people. Get lost Ramirez."

Reid watched the other agent's face go sour. Ramirez slammed out of the room and Calloway approached Reid like he was a un-sub they were hunting. He carried a manila folder in his hand, which he dropped on the table.

"If you're so hot to know why you're here, then take a look at this case file."

"I don't think so."

Calloway cocked his gun and the click was the loudest thing Reid had heard in the last three days. "If you think you can scare me with that gun, you're sadly mistaken. I'm sure you already know that I was tortured with Russian roulette many times in a two day period two years ago. I can assure you that dealing with a man with dis sociative identity disorder that manifested three distinct personalities makes this," He gestured around the room, "seem like a walk in the park."

Calloway put away his gun. "You may be right about that Dr. Reid. I don't want to damage my prize. I'll remind you that I'm aware of your relationship with Jennifer Jareau and her child. I believe that a man you put away five years ago for the murders of four toddlers was released on parole this week."

Reid leaped to his feet. "What kind of game are you playing?"

"I'm not playing games with you Dr. Reid. It's really too bad that a child murderer gets away with an insanity plea. Then his doctors decide that he's rehabilitated in only five years. They should have given him life without parole, instead he got fifteen lousy years because we just can't believe that someone in their right mind could do such a thing to children. We catch them and the courts set them free. Doesn't it just make you sick to your stomach?"

"You make me sick!"

"Now Dr. Reid, name calling is hardly productive. Believe me, it sickens me to think of doing business with that sicko, but if I have to…"

"Whatever you're planning to have me do won't work."

"I think it will. I have great plans for you Dr. Reid. You're going to make our percentage in the bureau skyrocket just like you did for Agent Hotchner."

"What does all of this have to do with Hotch?'

Calloway smiled and it scared Reid more than anything Tobias had done to him. "I'm just trying to reclaim my place in this world." He smiled again and left slamming the door behind him.

---

Austin looked at the clock. It was only eight o'clock, but she was exhausted. Maybe she could catch up with her reading as it was too early to try to go to sleep. She'd only toss and turn if she tried to close her eyes now.

_Maybe if I make a hot cup of milk with cinnamon and nutmeg?_

That had possibilities as a way to sleep and not think about Spencer and why he hadn't called her in two days. She tried to call him, but he didn't answer his phone.

_Was his mother so sick that he couldn't leave her side? _

That had to be it; otherwise he'd call her back. _He must feel so alone without anyone to help him through this. _

She pulled the mug of milk out of the microwave when the _ding_ of the timer went off. After adding nutmeg and cinnamon to the hot milk, she went to her bedroom and picked up her book.

_Something is wrong!_

No, she was just panicking for nothing. It was a result of to little sleep. Still, when she turned out the light an hour later, her eyelids felt like they were glued to her head. Sleep was a long time coming.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Reid stared at the case file in front of him. It looked like every case file he'd ever seen in his years with the FBI. It probably contained the same kind of horrors they saw every day. There was nothing special about it.

He picked it up. The cardboard-like paper slid around in his hands. It was cool to the touch, like it had been sitting outside in the cold, fall air. The paper was smooth under his fingertips. He'd opened too many files like it in his lifetime to count. It was part of his job. He flipped it over and looked at the back. It looked like an FBI file, but there was no name or marking of any kind.

He dropped it back on the table in front of him. He leaned back against the back of the couch and folded his hands behind his head. His feet were stretched out in front of him and he closed his eyes. There was a relaxation technique Jerry Kimball from Beltway Clean Cops had taught him when he'd refused to go to a shrink. The deep breathing exercises were just the thing to get his head clear and convince whoever it was that was watching him into thinking that he was sleeping.

The folder on the table called to him. He could almost see it. There was only one question… Was there really anything in the file? It could be filled with blank paper. From what he knew about Calloway, the man would think it funny to give him a fake file, and then watch him wonder about it. Or the case was an old one that Calloway would think Reid was unfamiliar with, that had already been solved. Or it could be real and he was delaying for nothing other than to try and irritate his captor.

Was he small enough to want to do that? He pinched the bridge of his nose tightly between his thumb and forefinger. The breathing exercises had ceased to work. There was only one way to deal with the situation at hand.

He got up from the couch and stretched out the kinks in his legs and back from sitting so long. God what he wouldn't give for a stimulating case to occupy his mind? He looked down at the folder again. Speaking of cases - his fingers itched to pick up the file and look through it. He shook his head, hoping the person watching got the hint.

He went to the closet in the corner of the sparsely decorated room and opened the door. He took an armful of fresh clothes from it to the bathroom.

---

Agent Todd entered the briefing room and began dropping file folders in front of the agents gathered around the table. The last folder dropped where Reid usually sat and the group went quiet.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot Agent Reid was on vacation."

She hurriedly picked up the extra case file and went right into her presentation of the case that the team would be working on.

The face of a small boy appeared on the screen. "This is Glen Simeon. His file just came across my desk. He disappeared two hours ago from Rock Creek Vermont. He's five years old and had been playing at a friend's home after school when he disappeared."

"What about his friend and the parents?"

"His friend's mother was supposed to take Glen home, but she got a call from his father claiming that it was his afternoon to take the boy."

"So the victim's parents are divorced?'

"Yeah, and the mother said that she recognized the voice. The car that Glen's father drove was the one that she recognized. She said that Glen ran to the car and got in before she could go out and talk to Mr. Simeon."

"Why have we been called in, if this is a simple case of kidnapping by the father?"

"Because the car and Scott Simeon's body were found outside of town, the kid was gone, and the father had been shot in the head."

They looked at each other for a long minute. "Okay… Wheels up in fifteen minutes," Hotch was first out of his chair and out of the conference room with everyone else following him.

---

Calloway watched Dr. Reid try to ignore the case file that he'd brought to him. The young man kept picking up the folder and looking at it like it was an interesting puzzle to solve. But he didn't open it or look at the contents inside.

"I thought you said he wouldn't be able to leave it alone. It looks like he's doing a very good job of ignoring it."

"Be quiet Ramirez!"

"No, if we're going to risk prosecution and jail time, we need him to look at this case."

"I didn't think you were such a whinny little girl Ramirez."

"Shut up Stark!"

"Both of you shut up. We are all in this to the very end. We are going to show the FBI that Hotchner's team has to be taken down a peg or two."

"I didn't sign up to help you with a personal vendetta."

Calloway grabbed Ramirez by the arm. "I'd be more concerned with your family and what will happen to them if this doesn't go as planned."

"Don't threaten them!"

"Oh stop it," Stark pulled Ramirez away from Calloway. "We're all in this for our own reasons, and that includes you Ramirez. So grow a pair, and deal with the unpleasant details like a real man."

---

Reid came out of the bathroom and went to the couch. He threw himself down and lay out at his full length across the comfortable piece of furniture. He squirmed around a bit, feeling very uncomfortable, but hopefully it wouldn't be for long. He was counting down in his head when the key clicked in the lock and Calloway entered the room with his gun drawn.

"I see you've finally decided to get comfortable Dr. Reid."

"Why not?! I'm going to be here for awhile."

"How do you feel?"

"I feel fine. In fact, I've decided that a permanent vacation is just the thing for me. Why don't you let me go? I have my new look and it's helped me to decide that I don't need the FBI."

Calloway looked at the young man dressed in a pair of brand new jeans that were artfully faded. He also wore an orange Caltech tee shirt and matching dark blue socks. The brand new running shoes were gleaming whitely in the light. The doctor looked like he belonged in a college dorm rather than this room.

"I know what you're thinking." Reid said suddenly.

"What am I thinking?"

"That I look like I belong in college. I have three doctorates and two BAs, and I'm working one more BA as we speak. I'm thinking I could quit the BAU and go back to school full time. When I get my next BA I could work anywhere I want. It would be better than the stress and worry of the BAU."

"Is that what you think?"

"Sure, why not, I could be making millions in the private sector. That's what my father said the last time I saw him."

"I thought you said that you didn't get along with your dad."

"I don't, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a point."

"True…"

"So why don't you let me out of this room and we'll call it even. I won't tell my boss where I've been for the last three days. He believes I've been on vacation so no harm no foul."

"You can use your smile, and your big dark eyes, to get what you want from Agent Hotchner and the others. You can use your natural awkwardness, and pretend to be shy and socially inept with your teammates, but you don't fool me Dr. Reid."

"Really, why not."

"Because _I know_ what you really think of your team and every other inferior mind, including mine."

"You do," Reid's eyebrows went into his wavy hair.

"Of course I do. You think you're better than everyone else in every room you've ever been in. You think you can outthink and outwit anyone. Unfortunately, you can't do that with me."

Reid felt a big smile pull his lips up in a curve. "We'll just have to see about that."

"I'd stop playing games Dr Reid. It won't work with me."

Calloway left the room and a still smiling Reid. The young doctor lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes. It was time for a long overdue nap.

---

The team left the plane at the small airstrip seventy miles outside of the small town of Rock Creek. They were met by a very tall man with salt and pepper hair that was arranged in a bad comb-over across his round head. His eyes were dark brown and very small in his doughy face. He was pudgy around the middle and he looked very relieved to see them.

"Hello, I'm Detective Schmidt. I can't tell you how glad I am that you're here."

The others looked at each other. Rare was the day that the locals were happy to see them. Morgan thought that Reid would know exactly how many times they'd been greeted with open arms.

"Morgan…"

He looked up to find them all staring at him. Apparently the introductions were done and the team was headed to the cars that would take them to the small town with a missing little boy.

"Sorry Hotch," He took off behind his boss. It was going to be very different doing this job without his friend.

The team made their way to the cars. Morgan got into one carrying Jordan and Rossi. As they pulled away from the airstrip Morgan noticed that the trees were losing their brightly colored leaves. He wondered as the scenery rushed by, how the weather was in Las Vegas. Was it was warm as it had been when they were there just a few weeks ago? Or had it got colder? Was Reid okay? Was his mother doing okay? He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial for Reid's phone, then slapped it shut when it went to voice mail as it had for three days.

Why didn't Reid call him back? His mother must be very ill if Reid wasn't taking the time to talk to any of his friends. If that were true then Reid would be very stressed and need his friends around him.

He opened the phone again and hit another speed dial number. "You've reached the Oracle of Quantico, speak and be recognized!"

"Hey baby girl… I need a favor."

_"Shoot!"_

"Can you get into medical records at Bennington and find out how Reid's mom is doing?"

_"No!"_

"_No_ you can't, or _no _you won't?"

_"No I won't, I'm not violating his privacy like that. I can't believe you would ask me such a thing." _

"I haven't talked to him in three days. I don't think anyone has heard from him since he left. It's not like him to not to return phone calls."

_"I'm worried too, but I can't do what you want. Try calling him again."_

"I did, no answer."

_"I'm sorry stud muffin. I'm sure he's fine though. Give him a chance to get settled with his mom and I'm sure he'll call one of us,"_

"You' right baby-girl. I'll call you when we need your expertise."

He shut the phone again. There was something wrong, but he had to get his head back in the game till the case was over. Then he could find out if Reid was okay.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

"Call him, if you're so worried about him."

Austin was playing with the Cobb salad she'd ordered at the food court in the mall. The tone in her best friend's voice made her look up from the greens, bleu cheese, hard boiled eggs, chicken and other toppings that she'd drenched in French dressing. She taken a total of three bites in the last twenty minutes, but the salad was pulled completely apart by her constantly playing with it.

"I've already tried to call him seven times in the last three days. He never ignores me. He always calls me back."

"Always… as in two times after you sent him back his own business card with a lipstick kiss and then you called him."

She focused her eyes back on her salad and blinked hard against frustrated tears. "You don't understand!"

"I understand better than you think I do. You went through a horrible experience at the hands of a serial killer. Kenny says that something like that can make you very vulnerable. He said that in a high stress situation like that, you'd think you were falling for the white knight that saved your life when in reality -"

"Stop _it! _I don't want to hear a load of psycho-babble from Kenny the "shrink in training," and his traveling couch."

"Don't attack Kenny just because you don't want to hear the truth. You barely know this guy. You met him in a club."

"So what, every guy in a club is a budding serial killer. He's an FBI agent for God's sake."

"That's my point _exactly_. You talk about this Dr. Reid all the time." Her friend was using her fork to punctuate her points. "According to _you_, he's cute in a nerdy teacher's aide kind of way. So that tells me he doesn't willingly hang out in bars. Supposedly, he's some kind of genius. You remember the geeks in school; they didn't know how to get the girls. I think he just momentarily charmed you and you felt sorry for him. Then he saved your life and now you think you're falling in love with him."

"That's not what I'm saying -"

"I know you Austin. We've been best friends since we were seven. You always do this, flame up into passion and then you find something wrong with the guy and that's it. This time I'm telling you to be careful. You don't know this man. Just because he's an FBI agent, doesn't mean he won't flake out on you. Obviously if he hasn't called you back, it's because he's trying to tell you something. I'd be pissed if I were you. He could at least call you back and tell you he isn't interested. "

"Shut up Lisa!"

"Just think about what I said." She reached over and smoothed back a stray hair from Austin's face. "A long distance relationship wouldn't have worked anyway."

"How would you know?"

"Don't you remember Larry?"

"Yeah, what's your ex-husband got to do with anything?"

"Don't pout, it's not attractive."

"Don't treat me like a child. I know Spencer. He'd never treat me like this on purpose. Something's wrong and I'm going to find out what it is."

She left the table and her friend who was shouting after her. People were staring at her as she pushed past the crowds that were collecting for lunch in the food court.

She pulled out her phone and called a number that she had researched the night before when something began to tell that something wasn't right with Spencer. The phone rang, she argued with the person that answered for ten minutes. They hung up on her. She slapped the phone together and slammed into her car. Angry tears fell as she slammed her hands down on the steering wheel and the horn gave a startled blat.

This was crazy… She was freaking out over someone that she didn't really know. She could count on one hand the number of times they'd spoken on the phone. Was Lisa right about her? Was she falling in love with the idea of being rescued from a serial killer?

She looked at her phone again. She could call him again. She put the phone in her purse and started the car. Lisa was right; he didn't want her now that her usefulness to the case was over. He didn't know how to relate to girls, and he probably saw her was a nuisance and someone that would get in the way of his job and his life as a genius.

---

Reid put the case file on the coffee table. He hadn't opened it yet. It called to him the same way a case did when JJ or Agent Todd gave them something new to work on. It was the call of a mystery that really interested him. The victims called out to him because of their suffering and pain, but he loved a good mystery. Was this a good mystery too, or was it a joke. Perhaps he was dreaming and once he opened the file he'd wake up.

He lay back on the bed at one end of the room and closed his eyes. They wanted him to open the file so he would ignore it.

_What if someone out there really needs you?_

Well that was kind of egocentric. He wasn't the only one in the BAU that could solve cases. The others on his team were perfectly capable of handling a case without him. He found that this knowledge didn't sit very well with him.

_There is no 'I' in team. _

He wished that inner voice would pick a side in this internal argument and quit confusing him with its equivocation.

_You should open the file. Someone could be dead!"_

Yeah, someone could be dead. It washis duty as an FBI agent and a member of the BAU to look at it. He could figure out a way to get out of this mess after he looked at the case.

He opened his eyes and looked at the clock. It was midnight and another day was beginning. He was so tired. He couldn't do anything tonight. He would look at the folder in the morning. That was soon enough to look and to see what kind of joke Calloway was trying to work on him. After all Calloway was just like every other bully he'd ever dealt with in his life. The best way to deal with them was to refuse to play the game.

He closed his eyes again and Austin's face surfaced to the top of his thoughts despite trying to keep her buried until he figured a way out. What if she tired to contact him and was angry that he didn't call her back. He felt in his pocket for his phone and slammed a fist down on the bed when reminded that the phone was gone.

_Please don't let her give up on me._

_Then quit sitting there like a bump on a log. Do your job and he'll let you out of here._

_Sure he would!_

He went to the couch and picked up the file. He opened it read it and looked at the crime scene photographs that were included.

"Oh _God!" _He whispered.

---

Austin finished her glass of bourbon and picked up the phone. The call she made to Quantico netted her another argument with the base security. No they wouldn't give her Reid's address or Agent Hotchner's phone number. It was against base and FBI policy.

She slammed down the phone and got up to pace the room. Something was wrong! She could feel it in her bones. She looked at the phone and thought of what Spencer had said that last time they spoke. What had he called the place his mother lived in? She thought hard for long minutes till the name "Bennington," was pulled out of her memory.

The result was the same. They wouldn't let her talk to him or his mother. They wouldn't say if he'd been there or what was his mother's condition. They claimed all kinds of family and patients rights. She threw the cell phone across the room that time. It was almost midnight. She should just get to sleep and forget about this till the morning. That's what any sane and rational human being would do.

She crossed the living room to pick up the phone and suddenly a name that Dr. Reid had mentioned a lot floated up out of her tired and abused memory. Someone called Garcia that was a computer tech with Spencer's team. She remembered because he always spoke of this woman with fondness as though they were best friends. Maybe Garcia would know, and she bet that computer techs didn't have all the layers of security. There was only one way to find out. She'd call this Garcia in the morning and find out where Spencer was.

She'd show Lisa that it wasn't just a case of hero worship. She had real feelings for him and when he came to see her, Lisa would see that. It would all be okay because he had rescued her. Now, if he needed it, she would find him. Because something was wrong and she was going to find out what it was?


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

"Goddess of the BAU, speak and be heard!"

"_Um… is this Penelope Garcia." _

"The one and only… Who's this?"

"_My name is Austin. I don't know if Dr. Reid has mentioned me to his colleagues, but I'm really worried about him. He talks about you all the time, and how you guys are best friends and I wondered if you could help me." _

"Wow, take a breath and slow down."

Garcia quit the search she was working on and gave her full attention to the bartender from Atlanta that her sweet boy was over the moon for.

"_I should start from the beginning." _

Austin launched into how Reid had been planning to come see her in Atlanta and how she was really looking forward to seeing him again. Then she told Garcia how he'd called her and told her about his sick mother and how his mom was in full time care for her bipolar disorder.

Garcia cut in sharply. "Are you sure that he said 'bipolar.' It's very _important."_

"_Yes! Did I say something wrong?"_

Garcia ignored the question and the tone in this Austin's voice. "I think I better check into the situation at Bennington."

"_They won't tell you anything. I already tried. They wouldn't even tell me if he's been there in the last four days. Some receptionist or something said she'd give him a message if he came in. Are they supposed to be that uncooperative with people?"_

"Patient's rights are a big thing these days."

"_I just want to know if he's okay. I've called him ten times in the last four days and he hasn't called me back. My friend said that maybe he really didn't want to talk to me and -" _

"No! Reid wouldn't just ignore your calls. If he didn't like you he wouldn't just leave you hanging on the line about it, so to speak."

"_Oh…"_

"Don't worry; he likes you and so do I."

"_You don't even know me."_

"I don't have to. Reid likes you and that's good enough for me. But, I am the tech goddess here, so I checked you out."

_Austin laughed. "Did you find out any deep dark secrets?"_

"No, just that arrest in Orlando during Spring Break in 2004."

"_Um, yeah, I got a little drunk and lost a bet." _

"I'll just bet you did," Garcia laughed. "I'm sure Reid would love to hear about it."

"_When we find out what's going on, I'll tell him all about it."_

"Alright, I need to get to work and talk to Hotch. I'll call you when I get any word."

"_You really will?"_

"I promise you'll be the first to know."

"_Thank you Agent Garcia."_

"Oh honey, I'm not an agent, I'm much better then that. I'm a computer tech."

She hung up on the laughing girl and swiveled around in her chair. She should call Hotch. Her fingers tapped on the desk for a long minute. She got up and paced around the room for a minute. There was no need to panic. There was a perfectly good explanation. Dr. Reid was entitled to a vacation without everyone bugging him. She'd call the sanitarium and pull rank if they gave her any attitude.

---

The team was given one desk in the corner of the small police station, and one whiteboard against the wall. There were two other officers and a female dispatcher in the office.

"Geez… Did we land in Mayberry?"

Emily elbowed Morgan in the side when he whispered in her ear. "Shut up Morgan."

The two male officers were staring at the group, which took up all the extra space in the room. One was fairly tall with blond hair and green eyes. He was tan and looked like he worked out regularly. He was as fit as Morgan, but he had kind eyes.

The other was nearly bald and looked about twenty years older than the detective that met them. He wore the uniform of the Sheriff with the easy care of someone that has been a cop their whole adult life. He was as thin or thinner than Reid, but not as tall. He had piercing blue eyes with crow's feet and baby smooth cheeks.

"Thanks for coming so fast." He said while eyeing them as closely as Hotch sometimes observed the group.

"No problem, when children disappear, we move fast." Rossi said.

Agent Todd stepped forward and made introductions. "This is SSA Hotchner, SSA Rossi, SSA Prentiss, and SSA Morgan. I'm SSA Todd." She addressed the Sheriff.

"I'm Terry White, Sheriff of Rock Creek. You've already met Detective Steiner and this is Officer Sand. He's our rookie, hired after Simeon quit."

"Wait, Scott Simeon was a police officer here. Why didn't you tell our liaison?"

"Because I didn't think it was that important Agent Hotchner."

"Everything is important. Glen Simeon has been missing for four hours. If we don't find him within the next twenty hours, the chances are we might not find him at all."

"So what's your procedure from here?'

"Have you talked to Glen's mother?"

"Yeah… She was at work when the abduction happened. She owns the only café in town."

"We like to speak to her."

Hotch sent Morgan and Emily to talk to Mrs. Simeon's mother-in-law at the boys home. He and Rossi went with Sheriff White to the Rock Creek Café on one end of Main Street.

Agent Jordan set up a conference call with the state police and Detective Steiner. The state troopers were on their way to Rock Creek and needed a place to consult.

"Okay Hotch, I'll meet with Lieutenant Gregory when he gets here and get set up at the rotary club."

She hung up the phone and grabbed Officer Sand as he was walking by. "What can you tell me about Glen Simeon?"

"I don't know much about him. I've just moved back after going to college in California."

"That explains the tan," Jordan said dryly.

"Yeah, my brother couldn't wait to get out of here, but all I've ever wanted to do is be a cop, and live here."

"So what can you tell me," she asked again.

"I know that Scott Simeon didn't quit. He was fired."

"What!"

"I'm not supposed to talk about it, or even know about it, but you can't keep a secret in a small town like this."

"Don't cops get close mouthed when there is a problem in the ranks?"

"I guess I haven't been one long enough. I just want to find Glen. I hate it when bad things happen to kids."

"Then tell me everything you know."

---

Garcia frowned at the results of her trace on Dr. Reid. She checked all his credit cards and he hadn't booked a flight to anywhere in the United States.

"Don't panic… Maybe he booked under another name."

Why would he do that? He had nothing to hide. They all knew about his mom and how much he loved her. He wouldn't hide going to Las Vegas to see her.

"So where did you go, if not to Las Vegas."

The thought occurred to her that Reid had lied to Austin for some reason. Her baby boy was pretty shy and maybe he made up a story so he didn't have to go back to Atlanta. After all, a bartender was pretty exotic for her boy to date.

"_No_, that's not what's going on here."

She'd seen him the day before he was to leave. He'd been over the moon about seeing Austin. She teased him unmercifully about it, but he'd been happier than she'd seen in a long time. He wouldn't just blow her off.

The other problem was what Austin told her about Reid's mother. Why would Reid say that his mother was bipolar? He _never _misspoke, _ever_! It had to be some kind of clue or a warning.

She went back to her phone. She'd call Bennington and find out if her sweet boy was there and lying low, or if the something that was making her skin crawl was a premonition of something bad having happened to him.

"Can't you go three months without tragedy befalling you?" She scolded him out loud and then laughed.

It was a pale shadow of her usual light hearted chuckle and her stomach began to churn. She picked up the phone only to slam it down again half an hour later. The clinic wouldn't put her through, even when she pretended to be Strauss. Only family and/or legal representative could get updates on Dianna Reid. They promised as they had with Austin to leave a message for Reid if he came in.

She supposed that the security there was necessary and it probably helped her handsome man sleep at night, but really! She paced again and then threw up her hands to call Hotch. He was going to go into orbit when he heard that she thought that once again, Reid had been kidnapped and that the person or persons that had taken him had a four day head start!


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n thanks to you all for your kind reviews and comments. They help to feed Adele, who is very greedy.**_

_His eyes opened to complete darkness. It was a blackness that was as deep as the Marianna's Trench. Had he gone blind in the night? He tried to turn over, to reach for the lamp on the table, but pain lanced through his head and his side. More pain shot through his ribs as he tried to turn back to his original position. _

_His arms were completely numb and pulled behind him at a very awkward angle. His cheek and the arm of his glasses pushed into something that felt like carpet. He shivered and screamed in pain that burned through his ribs. _

_His legs were drawn up to his chest, but he could move them. He tried to pull them apart, but they were tied together. He made them straighten and his feet hit something. Was it a wall? Where was he? His head hurt so much that he couldn't think straight. _

_He tried again to move his arms, and moaned when pins and needles began to invade the awakening flesh as he started to piston his arms up and down. He tried twisting his wrists and then screamed again at the pain. _

_He moved his legs to the left as far as he could get. There was another obstacle behind him. Was he buried alive somewhere. His heart was already racing, but the memory of reading a thousand Poe nightmares about being buried alive sent the blood slamming through his veins. Adrenaline was making his head feel light. _

_He kept moving his arms up and down as far as he could. The feeling was nearly back, along with the weakness that accompanied muscles that had been sleeping. He made him arms stop moving and he tried to be still and let the strength return. There was only silence around his ears and with the darkness, his heart kept pounding, allowing no rest. _

_He had to try to listen and hear something. But only his frantic heartbeat could be heard in his ears along with his breath wheezing in and out of his chest. _

_He kicked out with both legs and screamed again, except now he heard that the scream was muffled. There was something over his mouth that he hadn't felt before, and the scream was only high and full-bodied in his head. The truth was that the moans and screams were only muffled cries. His legs hit the barrier again and made a kind of metallic thump that was familiar. _

_He had to get out of this place, wherever it was. It would require thinking though, and his thoughts were racing around too much. Panic was making him feel like throwing up, screaming and crying all at the same time. _

_Be quiet and think!_

_That was easier said then done. What if he were coming back?_

_Who's he?_

_No, I won't think about that._

_Close your eyes!_

_Why? Its pitch black in here! _

_Close your eyes and breathe. Think about the book you read last week._

_Which one?_

_You know which one!_

_He closed his eyes and the text was there as though it was the same day, and the same moment, in the basement apartment he lived in at Cal Tech. He breathed in and could smell the old leather. Another breath showed his fingers how to remember the crispness of the pages, and the smoothness of the paper as his fingers skimmed down each page._

_The book was about Houdini and some of his escape artist skills. He could use them. If he was lucky, he could use them. He began again to piston his arms up and down and had to stop when his heart began to race. He'd felt the ropes begin to loosen. _

_He had to remain calm or this wasn't going to work. The ropes loosened, but not enough to let his hands escape. If he could get his legs up close enough to his head and get his arms through them… He took a breath wincing at the pain in his ribs and lifted his legs. If he could just get his arms under his backside…_

_The pain was unbearable in his chest and his arms, but he pulled hard, sliding his hand across whatever it was that he lay on. His feet slipped through and he almost cried with relief and pain. Now to get the ropes off his hands. He tried to slip out of them again by rotating his wrists, but he'd been too relaxed when tied up to make Houdini trick work. If he could only see…_

_He tried to sit up, but banged his head on what was above him. He cried out again, and again, visions of being locked up and buried flew through his brain and made his heart race. Then a sound pushed through his panic. _

_It was like a clinking noise, like a fork on china. His eyes strained to see through the darkness. His eye sockets felt like they were being pushed through a vegetable strainer at the effort. One arm of his glasses fell off his ear and dragged across his cheek. His hands automatically reached up to push them back. _

_There was a click and a breath of fresh air rushed in from an opening that pushed bright light in and threw it across his leg. He squinted and in slow motion everything happened at once. He knew where he was and remembered how he'd got there. _

_The lid to the trunk swung up and the flashlight blinded him. Terror gave him strength and he pushed away with his legs. _

_The light burned in his eyes and a voice said…_

He bolted up from the couch and yelped in pain at the crook in his neck from falling asleep with his head hanging over the arm. His head snapped from one side to the other of the room in confusion. The floor lamp next to the couch was on, but everything else was dark in this room without windows.

His breath heaved in and out of his chest and his stomach was pure acid. It rebelled and he stumbled off the couch to the bathroom. He slipped to the floor in front of the white porcelain toilet and lost what was left of the meal he'd eaten in the last twelve hours.

The taste of the acid and the way it burned his throat made him dry heave again. Tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes. He climbed shakily to his feet and took a good long look in the mirror. His eyes were deeply shadowed as always, but it was the shadows down deep his hazel irises that was the most disturbing to see. There was a hint of desperation he hadn't felt or seen there in months.

He picked up the glass that had sat at the edge of the sink since the first day he'd been here. The cool water from the tap tasted flat, as though someone had removed all of the minerals from it. It didn't take away all the taste of the acid from his mouth, but it helped and his stomach held it down.

He looked at the glass after drinking down the water. He could tell anyone exactly how glass was formed and why you could see through it. He could tell you how the room around him was built and why certain materials had been used instead of others. He could look into the minds of the most horrible, and despicable, men and women on the earth, but he couldn't understand his own mind and dreams.

He went back to the room and looked at the folder on the table. His watch lay on the table next to the folder and he picked it up. It was five in the morning of his fifth day, or was it the fourth day here. His internal clock was getting screwed up with all of this isolation.

He picked up the file and looked at the pictures. They were as bloody and graphic as he'd ever seen and he winced at the reaction he'd had the first time he'd looked at them hours before exhaustion had pulled him into sleep.

The victims were all the same. There were twenty of them scattered through the last ten years. All of them were found in different remote locations. They'd all been university students and they were all geniuses. They had wavy brown hair, glasses, and hazel eyes and were tall and thin. They could all be his brothers. Someone had been beating and carving them to pieces for ten years without getting caught. Someone had been abducting them for ten years without leaving any evidence. That person was still out there.

He picked up the file, held it up to the camera and said very clearly. "I know you're watching me and I know you can hear me. If you want my help, I want something in return."

He turned his back on the camera and went back to the couch. He dropped the file on the table and hid his shaking hands by sitting on them. And he waited…

---

Kevin picked up his phone and called the fist number on his speed dial list. "Yeah… I think you better come down here. The good doctor is getting restless."


	13. Chapter 13

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n once again, thanks to all my loyal readers, those that have reviewed or added this to thier alerts and favorites. I appreciate all of your support.**_

Emily and Morgan arrived at the Rotary Club building at the same time as Hotch and Rossi. There were five state police trooper vehicles in the parking lot, which filled it up. The sidewalks across the main street of town were crowded with what Emily supposed were most of the inhabitants of the little town. They were pointing and staring at the club, and whispering to each other.

"It looks like this is the most excitement this town has had in forever."

"Yeah, I wonder if they lock their doors at night."

Morgan pulled off his sunglasses and opened the door for Emily. Hotch and Rossi got out of their borrowed SUV and followed them into the last room down the hall.

The state police were setting up in the meeting hall. A hotline had been set up by Jordan and she was helping to field calls.

"Mrs. Simeon is a wreck and I don't blame her." Emily said while they gathered at the long rectangular table.

"Did she tell you anything useful?" Hotch asked.

"After we got past Glen's grandmother, she told us that she had agreed to Scott taking him for the weekend."

"How is her relationship with her ex-husband?"

"Amicable… According to her, they had an agreement that Glen would spend every other weekday with his dad. Mrs. Simeon lives with her mother, who's got MS. She's in a wheelchair, but she put us through the wringer while we were trying to talk to Mrs. Simeon."

"Yeah… I wouldn't want to get on her bad side, wheelchair or no wheelchair."

"What's her mother's name?"

"Evelyn Cash," Emily said.

"What else did the mother tell you?"

Emily was playing with a pen and her eyes kept straying to the wall as though looking for something.

"Morgan!"

Emily looked back at Morgan, who was staring at the top of the table and the files that were spread out in their usual untidy fashion. The school picture of the little boy was on top of the stack. He had brown wavy hair, and dark eyes behind glasses.

"Morgan!"

The younger man lifted his head from the pictures. "What?"

"What did the mother tell you?" Hotch was gritting his teeth so hard that Emily thought she could hear them grinding together in his mouth.

"The usual, he was a good boy that never got into trouble. He had lots of friends. He had just started school and seemed to be adjusting well. The divorce was hard on him, but the lack of animosity between the parents has probably helped."

"Have there been any problems since the divorce between Mr. and Mrs. Simeon."

"No, everything was fine. I got the impression that it wasn't her choice to divorce him?"

"Do you think he was having an affair?"

"It's possible Hotch, but she wouldn't say if it were true. I think she agreed to the divorce for the sake of the boy. She didn't want him to grow up with two parents that were fighting all the time. She may not like what her husband did, but she maintained a good relationship because of Glen."

"Get on the phone with Garcia and have her look into this town. Find out if there are any registered sex offenders in the area with a preference for kids."

"Will do…" Morgan pulled out his phone at the same time Hotch's phone began to beep.

"SSA Hotchner."

"Sir it's Garcia, um - I have _really _bad news!"

"I'm putting you on speaker phone."

He switched his phone to speaker and held it out so everyone could hear the perky tech goddess speak.

"We have a serious problem. I got a phone call from Austin. She said she'd tried to call Reid several times over the last few days and he isn't returning her calls."

"Garcia, we're on a case that needs our full attention. Please -"

"Hotch… I've tried to call him for the last three days. I thought that maybe he was too wrapped up with his mother being sick."

"Are you sure you two aren't overreacting."

"_No, Reid might ignore my chocolate God, but he's crazy about Austin. It's total puppy love."_

"Excuse me…" Morgan interrupted indignantly.

"Morgan!"

"_Look_, I talked to her and she told me that Reid explained to her when he called, hat his mother was bipolar."

Rossi's eyebrows went into his hair, but he didn't say anything. Morgan and Emily started talking at the same time. Hotch cut them off by raising one hand and turning his dark eyes on both of them.

"Are you sure he said that Garcia?"

"Yeah, that's what she said."

"Is she absolutely sure?"

"_Yes_ sir, I asked her more than once. She was very sure. Why would he say that?"

"Reid never says anything he doesn't mean Hotch."

"I know that Morgan, but I also know that Reid barely knows Austin. Who's to say that he didn't tell her that so that he wouldn't scare her off?"

"He's not ashamed of his mother!"

"_Morgan_, simmer down!" Morgan had jumped to his feet, but he sat down when Hotch gave him the look. "I knew about his mother when he joined the FBI. It was part of his background check. He trusted Gideon with that information too, but he didn't tell any of you till the Gardner case when he had no choice but to bring her to the BAU."

"That doesn't mean that he was ashamed of her."

"No, but it means that he didn't want to be treated differently because of his mother. He already had enough talents to set him apart."

"I know that Hotch. All I'm saying is that he didn't intend to tell Austin about her so soon in their relationship. He did it because he was trying to give us a clue. That means the calls he made to us were forced. Someone has him for reasons unknown."

"I agree…"

Morgan quirked an eyebrow at his boss, "You do?"

"Yes. Garcia, are you still there?"

"_Yes sir!"_

"I need you to check out the registered sex offender list for this town and the state of Vermont. We need to know all there is to know about Glen Simeon's family…"

Emily watched her boss talk to Garcia as though nothing was wrong with Reid. _Why was he ignoring the problem? They needed to get back to Quantico. _

"_But sir, what are we going to do about Reid? I tried to talk to Bennington, they wouldn't tell me anything. There's been no activity on his credit cards for the last five days. I can't find out if he's flown anywhere. What else can I do?"_

"I'll leave that up to you. We have to stay here. Glen Simeon is still our first priority. I'll call Strauss and alert her to Reid's disappearance."

"_Sir I don't think that it's a good idea to tell her." _

"She's the Section Chief. I can't keep her out of this. We'll be lucky if IAB doesn't take total control of finding Reid. If that happens, we'll never get it back."

"Yes sir. Of course, you're right, I'll get to work on finding out what I can about Rock Creek."

Hotch shut his phone and held up a hand before the others began to speak. "We have to work this case. The sooner we find Glen Simeon, the sooner we can get back to Quantico."

"Strauss will take the case away from us."

"I know that Dave. If I don't tell her we'll all be collecting un-employment by the time we get home. Do you want that?"

"_No_, but we have to try something."

"I'm going to call Bennington myself. Reid gave me power of attorney for him and for his mother after what happened with Tobias Henkel. If anything happens to him I am responsible for her care. They'll talk to me if I tell them he's missing. At least we'll be able to find out if he was there and if Dianna Reid is sick."

"But Hotch, if he has been kidnapped, he's counting on us."

"I _know _that Emily. The quicker we wrap this up, the faster we can go home and find out what happened to Reid."

---

Austin parked her car in her space at the apartment complex. Two pairs of eyes were trained on her from a car across the street.

"What do we do?"

"We watch and wait. If we need to pick her up, we'll get the word soon."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n thanks again for all your kind reviews and comments. And, thanks again to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC. **_

The door to Reid's room opened and Calloway walked in with his Glock in plain sight. The room was in the same condition as it had been when he'd picked it for the place to confine Dr. Reid. The bed was made and the living area was neat and tidy. If was as though no living being were within the confines of these walls. The file folder he'd left for Dr. Reid to look at was closed and sat precisely in the middle of the heavy glass coffee table.

Dr. Reid was standing in the exact center of the room, waiting for him. His face was white as a sheet and his hands were in fists, but he was utterly still. His large hazel eyes held horror, but also an inquiring look that seemed to ask the question, "How can you hurt me this way." It was as though a small child had invaded the body of the man that stood before him.

"You wanted to see me."

"Yes."

"Is that _all_ you have to say?"

"You gave me the file."

"I did."

"What did you think I would do when I saw it?"

"I thought you would do just what you're doing now. You're cooperating with me."

He watched as the young man in front of him seemed to relax, even though his eyes stayed wary and haunted at the same time. His hands uncurled from the fists they had made.

"I'm not cooperating with you."

Reid went to the couch and sat down in the center of the piece of furniture. He kept his eyes square on Calloway's face. Those eyes suddenly changed and the kid smiled at him. The smile didn't touch his eyes and Calloway almost flinched away, but overcame the urge to step back.

"You said you would help, but you want something in return."

"I did say that."

The kid was looking bored again except for his eyes that looked haunted. "Dr. Reid. We're never going to make any progress if you don't stop trying to get inside my head and play games."

"I'm not playing games."

"Yes you are…"

"No, I really do want something in return for helping."

"Okay, here's the deal. I know that you know who the killer is that I'm looking for in this case." Calloway stepped forward and picked up the file. "Do you know why this is the only file we have?"

Reid was sitting back on the couch with his arms over the back and his legs crossed. "Yes, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."

"This is the only evidence we have. In the last ten years, he's killed all of these young men and left them to be found. Now, that tells me one very important thing about this man. He doesn't care. Sure, he's careful not to leave anything of himself behind, but he also wants the police and the FBI to know that he's out there. He's white, in his forties and very intelligent. He was probably a teacher or on staff at one of the universities where he's been killing. It's more likely that he's someone on staff that can blend in. Most professors are tenured and work hard to get to those positions. He has to be able to move around. The problem is that the police looked into all of those angles. They didn't find anything. It occurred to my team that his first victim might have invaluable information."

"Then I suggest that you exhume the remains of the first victim."

"I don't have to do that Reid. You're the first victim. He messed up. You got the better of him. You escaped somehow. You do know who he is."

"That's an interesting theory. Did you go to all of this trouble just to find out?"

"There's much more going on here than you think, Dr. Reid. But all you really need to know is that you're here for the duration. Consider yourself a new member of my team. You're just a means to an end."

"What 'end' is that?"

"All in good time, Dr. Reid, all in good time. Now what is it you want?"

"I'm surprised you have to ask. I want out of here."

"Then our conversation is over. Think about it Dr. Reid. The man that took you and could have killed you is still out there. You didn't go to the police after you escaped. You let him get away with it. If you'd gone to the police, he'd been in prison now. Instead you have the blood of all those young men on your hands."

Reid bolted out of his seat. "That's not my _fault!" _

Calloway lifted his Glock back to pointing at Reid's chest. "I'd back off if I were you."

"You won't hurt me. I'm your prize."

"I only have to shoot an arm or a leg. I'm a very good shot and you don't need your legs to help me here."

"True enough, but then you'd have to get someone in here you could trust to tend to the wound or I will die."

"Don't worry about that Dr. Reid. I have all the bases covered in any eventuality."

He pulled a photograph out of his pocket and tossed it down on the table. "I told you that your new and rightful place is here with me. It's time you learned that I mean what I say."

Reid picked up the photograph and flipped it over. He looked at the image for long minutes and the hand that held the picture began to tremble. "I'll kill you if you touch her."

---

Garcia wanted to pick up her keyboard and heave it across the room. Her babies were failing her on all counts. She couldn't find anything on the mundane citizens of Rock Creek. At this rate, the team would be stuck there for weeks. If the team was stuck there for weeks then something really bad could happen to her baby boy.

She shoved her chair over to the computer she had dedicated to watching for signs of anything about Reid. There was nothing there! How could there be nothing?

The guys were expecting her to find something like she always did. So why weren't her babies cooperating and spitting out the information she needed to at least help the team.

"Hey beautiful!"

She spun around in her chair. "What are you trying to do, _scare_ me to death?"

"Sorry, I had a break and I wanted to come down and see how you're doing."

"Hotch told you not to bother me when I'm busy.

"You don't look busy. You were staring at your computer screens."

"I'm busy, please go away."

"What's wrong Penny?"

She left her chair and went to the door where Kevin stood looking at her like she was a bomb about to go off and blow the both sky high.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you. This case is making me crazy and now Reid is missing and -"

"Wait, back up just a minute. What happened to Dr. Reid?"

"He's gone missing. He was supposed to go on vacation for two weeks to Atlanta. He was going to go see the girl I told you about."

"The bartender," Kevin commented while putting his arms around Garcia and shutting her office door.

"Yeah, the bartender, you know how much he likes her. He wouldn't blow her off. She called me and told me that he's not returning her phone calls. I tried to track him down, but he's not using his credit cards or his debit card. He hasn't flown anywhere. We can't find out if he's been in Bennington all this time."

"Baby, you have to calm down. Just because he didn't call the bartender doesn't mean that anything has happened to him."

"You don't know him as well as we do. He gets into life threatening jeopardy all the time."

"It can't be that bad."

He stroked her back and breathed in the vanilla scent of the bath salts she liked she liked to soak in. His mind went back to the ecstasy they'd experienced just that morning in the jetted tub. Her words faded around him into a pleasant blur.

"Kevin… Are you listening to me?" Her voice pushed through the fog her scent and the memory of their morning together had clouded his brain.

"Of course my love, I still think you're overreacting though. I'm sure there's a logical explanation. You said that Agent Hotchner practically pushed him out the door. Well, it sounds to me like he really needed a break. Maybe he lied to everyone so that he could disappear for awhile and leave everything behind. How infatuated could he be with this Austin anyway?"

"No, that's not the way it is. You just don't know him." She repeated.

"Maybe you're right, but still, let the team deal with it when they get back."

"I can't Kevin. I have to get back to work."

He kissed her, but she pushed him away. "Not at work where we might be seen by Strauss."

The hand that had made a fist at her rejection relaxed. There was time later on to deal with all of this secrecy. "Alright baby, I better get back to work before Calloway comes looking for me."

"Yeah," she said distractedly.

"Good-bye my love."

"See ya," she went back to her station and his fists clenched again.

He left her sitting there brooding in front of her computers and went back to the elevators. When this was over, and he'd been well paid for his services, he'd convince Penelope to leave this place with him. The sooner he got her away from the influences of her friends, especially that Dr. Reid and Morgan, the better.

They all had way too much power over her. The fact that she'd blown him off for dinner, movie and a little lovin' was proof that he needed to get her out from under their control.

He went back to his office and booted up his computers. He'd do his job and leave no one any reason to suspect anything about him.

_**A/n I know Kevin seems to be OOC here. IMHO it's always the quiet ones or the one you least suspect.**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n Adele asked me to thank you all for your lovely reviews, adding this story to your alerts or favorites. Oh yeah, thanks from me too!**_

"If you'd please be sure not tell her that there's a problem. Yes, as I said, there's reason to think he's missing, but I don't want to upset Diana Reid. No, I'll call you Dr. Norman, as soon as I know something more concrete. No, I don't think he'll contact you, but if he does, please call me. Thank you!"

Hotch slammed his phone shut. The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. The team averted their eyes as one from the scowl that they should have been used to, but that still terrified them.

"Hotch," Rossi was the first to break the silence that had descended like midnight in winter. "What did her doctor say?"

"Oh Dianna Reid is in perfect health. Reid hasn't been in to see her since the Riley Jenkins case closed."

The rest of the team resembled statues made from stone as Hotch gave them the bad news that included the fact that Reid had never been summoned to Bennington.

"Sir, I don't know Agent Reid that well, but couldn't he have just gone off on his own. Maybe he wanted to go some place that -"

"He wouldn't just go off on his own without telling anyone."

"Morgan, I'm not trying to say that -"

"You're right Jordan, you don't know him!"

"Morgan!"

"She doesn't know Reid."

"Be that as it may, we have a case to solve. I need all of your heads in this one. The sooner we wrap it up the sooner we get back to Quantico and figuring this out."

"Hotch!"

"No, we're not here to find Reid. We're here to find Glen Simeon."

Morgan had been on his feet as though he was about to tear out of the building and walk back to the jet. He took his seat again and ignored Jordan who was studying her file and ignoring him.

"Everyone listen to me…" Hotch said. All eyes turned to him and he went to the head of the conference table. "I understand that you're all concerned about Reid. I am too… I don't want this to be another Georgia. We function well as a team because we care for each other like a family. That caring makes focusing on this case, and not on Dr. Reid, that much more difficult. I ask you all to think about Glen Simeon. Doesn't that little boy deserve our full attention? You know that statistics for missing children. We have less then a day to find him. Do I wish that we didn't have to choose between a small boy and our friend? _Yes I do_! So let's get back to work and find Glen so we can go home."

"Hotch is right… We have to focus on the case. Reid wouldn't want us to drop this just to help him."

"I hate to be the one to say this, but what we need right now is Reid." Emily said, looking right up into Hotch's dark eyes.

"Yeah… We need him, but he's not here. Let's get going on the profile for this and close it."

"Okay, we have little to go on. There are no finger prints, hair, or fibers at the scene. The boy was taken in broad daylight, which suggests some level of organization."

Morgan's phone beeped and they all jumped. Emily laughed in reaction and Rossi looked at the phone as though it held the answers to all the secrets of the universe.

"Hey Baby-girl… Give me some good news." He put the phone on speaker.

"_I can't, I haven't found anything that peaks my interest in the good citizens of Rock Creek. That's the good news ladies and gentlemen. _

"What's the bad news my lady?"

"_I can't find anything on the entire Simeon family or Evelyn Cash before they moved to Rock Creek. It's like they sprang fully formed from the brow of Vermont." _

"I thought Athena sprang from the brow of Zeus." Rossi said.

"_Someone other then Reid got my mythology analogy." _Everyone went very quiet. _"Hey you guys are you still there?" _

"We're fine Garcia. Thanks for the info."

"_I'll see what else I can find out." _

"That's an interesting turn of events."

"Yeah Dave, that's what worries me."

---

Agent Calloway opened the lock on the door to the room he was using till this was over. It was right down the hall from where Agent Reid stayed. What would the young man think to know that his new boss was just feet away from him?

His quarters, as he called them, were much larger and better equipped than the small room that Dr. Reid had although that room was much bigger than the young man's apartment.

Agent Calloway went to his kitchen and took down a bottle of vodka. He grabbed his martini shaker out of the cabinet and set to work mixing his drink. The wood block counter in the center of the kitchen was empty, but for his glass and the shaker as he stood there sipping the drink and thinking about his latest triumph.

It was time to share the news with his dear old mother. He went down the hallway that with its white painted walls that were devoid of photographs or paintings just like the rest of the "apartment." The room at the end of the hall had another locked door which he opened with his key. It was empty but for blood red carpet, white walls and a carved wooden pedestal at the very center of the room. Atop the pedestal was an urn, hand painted in black with white lilies and green leaves.

Lilies had been his mother's favorite flower. She'd grown them all over their yard when he was a child. The garden had flourished while he'd been ignored except for the endless lectures. And after his father had had enough and left, it had only gotten worse. But, she was his mother and he did everything in his power to please her.

"Everything is in place mother. Soon I'll be right where I deserve to be." He put out a trembling hand to touch the smooth surface of the urn. "You'll be so proud of me mother." His voice shook and caught in his throat.

His hand became a fist that wanted to smash the urn to the floor. "Bitch… Nothing I ever did was good enough for you. But I'll show you now, soon everything will be right and you'll see that I'm not a failure."

He opened his hand and watched the red blood well up out of the crescent marks made by his fingernails. One drop ran down the palm of his hand and fell to the carpet, blending in with the deep crimson pile. He touched one finger to the bloodied palm. The glistening red blood was suddenly too much like the blood his mother had coughed at the end of her terminal bout with pancreatic cancer.

"No, I won't think about that now. You can't make me remember."

He ran out of the room to the bathroom that was nearly identical to the one in Reid's quarters. The ice cold water from the taps he turned on made the wounds sting and hurt, driving out everything but the face of Aaron Hotchner. Oh how long had he waited to wipe that look of superiority off the man's face? It would happen soon when he failed to find Dr. Reid. Section Chief Strauss wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye this time.

---

Reid picked up the photograph Calloway had left on his table. If Calloway had a team of profilers working with him, then what other resources did he have at his command? What if he got her killed by refusing to cooperate?

But he couldn't remember that night. It was all a jumble of light and darkness and trees that trembled and sang in the wind.

_The trunk opened to darkness and light at the same time. The light was bright enough to blind but he tilted back and struck out with his legs anyway. There was a crunch and a loud cry before the light fell away and left them in half darkness. The owner of the light cursed loudly and tried to grab him as he attempted to pull himself out of the trunk. _

"_No… "_

_He rolled away, falling over the edge of the trunk and into leaves that crackled and crunched under his body. __The ground was damp and it smelled like…"_

"NO!"

His breath whistled out of his chest. His heart raced so hard that it hurt. And for the first time in months the craving for the drug that had held him captive burned in his blood like acid. Oh he wanted to feel that release that was nearly sexual in its intensity. It would take him away from all of this and then maybe he could forget where he was.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

"Come on Penelope. Let's go home. You're not gonna to find him tonight."

"How do you _know_?"

"It's four in the morning, princess. You need to get some sleep."

"I can't Kevin. What if he's out there and hurting somewhere? I have to find him. I have to find something on that little boy too. We need to have the team back and looking for Reid.

"Please just come home and get a couple of hours of sleep."

She looked up at him and he could see the deep weariness and worry in her eyes. All of that energy expended over that skinny freak! It wasn't right! She should be spending her time and energy on him. Soon it would happen. She'd have to eventually give up on Reid. She'd never track him down anyway. He'd seen to that with a sweet little program he'd created.

"Let me take you home!"

She finally left her chair and came into his arms. She was so soft and curvy… He could get hot just thinking about what she looked like naked. He hated really skinny girls. She fit his needs in every way.

"Thanks for taking care of me. I'm just so worried."

"You'll find something tomorrow. I have faith in you, my love."

She hugged him tighter and then turned for the door. "I will, because leaving Reid out there with whatever sick sadistic son of a bitch is _unacceptable_."

He made comforting noises and followed her to the parking lot. He followed her home as they never stayed over at his place. He'd let her into his bed once this was over and he had a big expensive place for them to live.

It wouldn't be long now. Calloway had told them all that the next step to his plan was going to be put into place that very night. Calloway had been badgering him again about the security of their plan. Kevin had once again explained that there was no way Penelope would make a move with out him knowing about it.

He thought back to ten days ago when he'd made sure that she wouldn't be able to track down the good doctor or him and the team.

_Kevin slipped out of her bed and pulled on his briefs. His beautiful princess was deeply asleep after very enthusiastic sex. _

_He stretched, trying to wake up as she'd screwed him nearly into unconsciousness. His jeans were on the floor in the hallway. He slipped them on and padded out to the living room. The shades were up on the windows and moonlight streamed into the room, making it a bit ghostlike. He liked the white light and the silence in the room. It helped to grease the wheels of his thoughts. _

_The lap top he'd brought with him, was packed in its carrier, and he ignored it for the second lap top on Penelope's desk. He booted it up and sat down as the light from the screen washed over him. He only had one attempt to break the password into her hard drive, but that was no problem because he already knew the password. He typed it in and smiled as he called up a menu and began to type. _

_He lay on the couch watching early morning cartoons when Penelope came into the room. Her hair was adorably tousled and there was a red patch on the side of her face. _

"_You were supposed to wake me at six!"_

"_It's Saturday morning."_

"_I know, but I've got a ton of things to do. I have to do laundry. This apartment is a mess and needs a through cleaning and then I have to run to the dry cleaners and -" _

_Kevin yanked her down on top of him. "All of that can wait."_

"_Kevin, I'm serious!" He let go of her and she stood up, pushing her red kimono shut. _

"_I'm sorry. I just want to spend time with you. You work too hard." _

"_I don't work any harder than the team." _

"_No, but you push yourself to look at and deal with things you shouldn't have to deal with." _

"_You're a tech. You see the same things I do." _

"_It's different."_

_Penelope had sat back down on the couch next to Kevin. Now her eyes were blazing at him in the low light of the lamp on the desk. _

"_Why is it different for me?'_

"_It just is."_

"_Why! Because I'm a woman?!"_

"_That's not what I meant." _

"_I think it is." _

"_Kevin, I'm not going to quit! I'm going to stay at the BAU and do my job." _

'"_I'm not asking you to quit your job." _

"_Aren't you?"_

"_I love that you work for the FBI and that you're on a list." _

_Kevin was massaging her back and even though she wanted to move away from him, his hands were wonderful on the knots that had stayed in her back, despite the eight hours of sleep she'd got. _

"_Hm… you're not playing fair."_

"_I take every advantage that I can get."_

"_Kevin!"_

"_I'm just saying that I want you to be happy. You haven't looked happy at work for awhile." _

"_The last year has been hard. It wasn't a barrel of laughs to get shot." _

"_I know that princess. That's why I want you to be happy. If you left the BAU, you'd have so much less stress in your life." _

_She pulled away from him again and stood up. "I'm not going to leave. Please don't make me choose." _

_He followed her into the bedroom. "I'm not going to make you choose. I'll support whatever you want to do. Just promise me that you'll stop working twenty-four seven. You need to take care of yourself and get rest on a regular basis." _

_She turned around again and her face was softer. She was smiling at him and he cheered inwardly. "I will. I promise that I'll get eight hours of sleep every day." _

Kevin opened the door to her apartment with his key. "You don't have to stay."

"If I don't stay, you'll get on your lap top again."

"You're such a watch dog."

"No, I'm concerned. You promised me weeks ago that you weren't going to work into exhaustion again."

She dropped onto the couch. "I _know! _I just can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong. I mean Reid could be hiding out there away from us. I suppose it's possible that he's just looking to get away from everything."

"I know you don't believe that and neither do I."

"You don't," She snuggled into his arms when he joined her on the couch again.

"No, what do you take me for?"

"I guess I just thought…"

"You thought that I don't care about your friend. I do care because this is making you crazy. So let's get going and find him."

"Thank you my tech God."

"You're welcome. You take a shower and I'll make breakfast."

"Pancakes?'

"Pancakes."

He watched her walk away and a little smile of triumph crawled across his face. His virus, that had infected her lap top and the computers at work were doing their job very well. He knew everything she did about Dr. Reid and the little boy. Soon, she would give up and then she would beg him to take her away.

---

Reid came out of the bathroom wearing a tee shirt, a pair of sweat pants and a matching pair of white socks. His head was pounding so hard it was the only thing in his universe. He couldn't think of anything but the pain. The hot water from the shower he'd taken hadn't helped and neither had the pain medication he'd found in the cabinet. A look at his watch told him the time was four am. His eyes burned and his back ached, but sleep wouldn't come at all.

The hot water hadn't helped with the craving for Dilaudid either. He reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and fingered the medallion he'd been carrying around for months. God he wished that John was there to talk to. He wished that any of his friends from "Beltway Clean Cops" were there.

_Yeah, if they were here you'd be out of here._

That was a nice thought and a foolish one. He went to the living area and took the top off the tray that someone had brought into his room while he'd been in the bathroom. There was a bowl of tomato soup, a sliced apple, some cheddar cheese, crackers and a glass of milk. He tried not to think about how much that very lunch reminded him of his mother in her more lucid moments.

He ate very slowly while going over the case file again. If he could only remember what had happened in those minutes after he'd escaped from the trunk of that car. His right hand began to shake as he made another attempt to relax and think. He shouldn't have taken the doctor's word that his memory of that night might not come back. He should have tried harder to recover them. He'd been able to recover other memories from his childhood. Why wouldn't his stubborn brain give up the memories of that night? What could be worse than being tortured by a religious maniac or thinking that his father had been a child molester and murderer?

He chewed the last slice of apple. The fruit was almost too sweet in his mouth. The last slice of cheddar cheese cut the sugary taste on his tongue as he desperately closed his eyes. If he could just remember what had happened. He squeezed his eyes together so tightly that his forehead began to hurt. Did he know that person that had tried to kill him ten years ago? Was it someone that he'd known very well, a friend, someone that he trusted and that's why his brain wouldn't let him remember?

He put the plate that had held the apples and cheese back on the tray. He'd emptied the bowl without realizing it. His stomach felt better now, but his heart still hurt and the low-grade fever for the Dilaudid was still making that spot between his shoulder blades itch.

_At least I can't get my hands on a needle while locked in here._

The door opened and Calloway entered. "I see you've finished your meal. I'll just take your tray away."

"I can't help you with this. I can't remember anything from then."

"You disappoint me Dr. Reid. Perhaps you need a bit of encouragement."

"I don't need any more of your encouragement."

Calloway laughed, throwing his head back joyfully as though he just heard the best joke of his life. "Oh I think I can find some way to motivate you."

"You'll never see the light of day again, if you hurt my family."

"I don't need to involve anyone of your loved ones to get you to help me. I know of a better way."

"Really, I told you that I don't respond to torture."

"I don't need to torture you to get what I want. Instead, I'm going to give you the one thing you want."

Reid had folded his hands in his lap. They began to shake again and he hoped that Calloway couldn't see them tremble. Calloway was looking very pleased with himself.

"Are you going to let me out of here?"

"You know better than that Dr. Reid. You're here for the duration."

"Then you don't have anything I want."

"_Oh_, I think I do."

Stark came into the room, left a small wooden box on the coffee table and left again without so much as a word to either man.

"Why don't you open the box and see what I brought for you."

"I don't think so!"

Calloway gestured with the ever present gun. "Please open the box."

"_No_… I don't need to see what's in there."

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to make a call. It really is too bad about your mother. You think she's safe there in Bennington, when it's easy for an FBI agent to get in and -"

"I'll open it!" Reid said tightly as he reached for the box.

"Good, I knew you'd see reason. It really is better this way."

Calloway gestured at the box with his gun. Reid picked it up. It had bronze hinges, and was rectangular and thin. The wood was polished to a mirror shine. It was smooth as satin under his skin and cold as though it had been sitting inside a refrigerator. He should put it down. There was nothing that he wanted in that box.

"Open it!"

He opened it and the lid swung up on silent hinges. He dropped it to the coffee table and stumbled up off the couch and into a corner.

"You can have that one now and if you cooperate, there's more where that comes from." Calloway said smugly.

"I don't w-want that."

"Of course you do. I realized that this is what you needed to cooperate. So why don't you take it and stop suffering. Do yourself a favor Dr. Reid. I know you want it. _Take it_, and you'll feel much better."

"I won't take it. Take it away." Reid whispered as his whole body began to shake.

"I don't think so. I'll leave you alone. You better have something for me to work with by tomorrow or your mother will pay the price.

He left the room but Reid didn't move. He stared at the needle nestled in green velvet inside the box. The silver tip of the needle seemed to glow in the lamp-light. His mouth had begun to water, but he didn't notice. His hands were shaking and his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. He wanted the drug so badly he couldn't think anymore. Maybe it was better just to sink the needle into his flesh and forget everything.

He left the corner of the room and sat down in front of the box. He didn't realize that his tongue was licking his lips. One shaking hand reached out and picked up the needle.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Emily picked up the coffee pot and poured herself her fifth cup of coffee. The file folder she carried around with Glen Simeon's photo in it seemed to burn into her hand. There had to be something that would help them find the boy.

"Hey Emily," Agent Todd's voice startled Emily and she nearly dropped her coffee.

"Hi Jordan," She sipped the slightly shaken coffee.

"You look beat." Jordan said and then she flushed. "Sorry, that's a really stupid thing to say."

"It's okay. It's just this case. I hate looking for missing kids."

"I know… What are we supposed to do if there's no ransom demand?"

"Money isn't what this guy's after. He wants something else. The problem is that Garcia hasn't found anyone on the sex offender list that even remotely has anything to do with his disappearance. The relationship between the parents appears to be amicable. Now he's dead and the kid is missing. I feel like we're missing some important piece and we can't see it.

The women headed back down the hall to the room they had been using as their meeting room. It was six o'clock in the morning and they'd been up all night. None of them wanted to sleep until they found this little boy safe and sound.

"This is another dumb question… Why do you sound like you've forgotten something very important?"

Emily sat down at the large rectangular table and opened the file she carried around, for the one hundredth time in the last few hours.

"Actually, it's not a dumb question. See, there is this time in almost all of our cases when we hit a barrier. We have a working profile in this case. We know the perpetrator is white. Since there's no ransom demand we can be reasonably sure that Glen was taken for other reasons. It could be that the un-sub is a pedophile. It could be another relative kidnapping the kid. I could be any number of reasons. He's between the ages of 30 and 50. There is a level of organization to this that suggests some maturity. He got quick control of the situation by shooting Glen's father. He also did this in broad daylight, which is pretty ballsy."

Agent Todd laughed heartily, causing Emily to look up at her in surprise. "I never thought I'd hear the word ballsy from Emily Prentiss."

Emily let her face smile. "Yeah, well I guess this is all getting to me. I feel like this is the point in the story where Reid comes up with something really brilliant that we're just not seeing and it solves the case."

"He does do that a lot?"

"Yeah, he does that all the time. It's like we're missing our right hand."

The rest of the team entered the conference room just at that moment. They took their places around the table. Each of them looked as disheveled as Emily felt, except for Hotch himself. He never looked exhausted. His suit always looked perfectly pressed. His tie was always straight. His short hair never got rumpled and his shoes always shone. In fact, he looked like a high priced lawyer on the way to court, or a high powered executive on the way to a board meeting. Unless, you looked into his dark eyes, and knew what to look for. It was in his eyes that everything showed despite his attempts to keep it all locked away. He looked exhausted to Emily now.

"You can always count on Reid to see something we haven't thought of." Morgan said with a half exasperated, half proud smile.

"I'll never forget the first time I met him," Hotch said with a very fond expression that surprised Jordan. Since when did he smile? "Gideon brings this tall skinny kid into my office and I'm thinking that Jason had lost it or something. Then Reid opens his mouth about the current case on the white board. He gave an accurate profile without hearing anything about the case. All he did was look at the photos. I'd never see anything like it."

"God I hope he's okay!"

"Well all hope he's okay." Rossi said.

"Let's get focused and find Glen." Hotch said, his scowl firmly back in place.

Morgan dropped into his chair and rubbed his hands over his bald head. "What do we do now?"

"Everything isn't as innocent as it seems. We've got an ex-cop that moved up from New York for a quieter life. The wife was an editor for a high profile publishing company. When Scott Simeon moved up here he was on the verge of getting promoted to Captain. It would have meant getting off the streets and more money. Why leave behind a really good job and the money that goes with it to move up to a small town to start over. He loses his rank and then he's fired for misconduct which led to his divorce."

"They divorced after they moved up here. Scott had an affair with an eighteen year old prostitute. Everyone knew about it including Mrs. Simeon."

"What if she hired someone to take him out? All of the good will could just be a smokescreen.

"We're getting off base here."

Hotch was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Hotch."

"_It's the Goddess of the information super highway. I've got some information for you about the Simeons." _

"Go ahead."

"_You're not going to like it. Scott, Mary and Glen Simeon don't exist. I can't find anything on them before eighteen months ago when they came to Rock Creek. The mother-in-law's name has been changed too." _

"They're in the witness protection program?"

"_If they are, I can't get anything from their computers." _

"Do I want to know how you got into their program?"

"_No sir, I want you to have plausible deniability."_ Hotch laughed and the smile on his face made the rest of them chuckle too. _"So what do you want, the good news first or the bad news?"_

"I prefer the bad news first."

"_Scott Simeon was a deep cover agent for several years in New York. He was instrumental in bringing down some of the biggest crime families on the East Coast. _

"That's the bad news?"

"_You sound disappointed." _

"No, just curious as to what the good news is."

"_The good news is that I found a life insurance policy on him for 5 million dollars. It was taken out one month ago." _

"I'll bet I know who it was that took out the policy."

"_You would think that, but you'd be wrong." _

Hotch raised his eyebrows and the rest of the team waited with bated breath. "Tell me!"

---

Reid picked up the needle and looked at in the lamplight. It was funny. In fact, he began to chuckle as the liquid drug moved along the inside of the syringe as he moved it and turned it over in his hands. He could take the dose and escape for awhile. Then he'd wake up and soon there would be the desperate longing for more of the poison. That's what it was to him, poison that he'd deliberately injected into his own veins for months.

He turned the needle over again and watched the light wink off the silver tip. He used to be afraid of needles. He hated physicals and flu shots because of the needles doctors used to draw blood. He'd always turn his head away from the needle and squint his eyes shut. It wasn't the pain. It was the sight of the needle cutting into his vein that gave him the chills.

That was the funny thing, how easy it was to learn to overcome those little phobias when it came to getting a fix of your drug of choice. He'd even got to the point that watching the needle enter his arm could make him shudder with pleasure before the drug was released into his blood stream.

He turned the needle over in his hands again and then he put it down on the glittering surface of the glass coffee table. Calloway had included a tourniquet with the kit as though it was a forgone conclusion that Reid would just take the drug. His mind wanted the numbness that it could bring him, even if it was only for a short while.

What was the use in fighting something like that? He didn't have anyone to help him here. He was alone. Why not escape? No one would blame him if he did. It would all be over soon anyway, so what difference did it make. He picked up the tourniquet and wound it around his arm, tying it off with his teeth. Now that was a skill you never forget! The needle waited to be used. He picked it up and got up to go into the bathroom. It wasn't the first time he'd ever shot up in a bathroom. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but at least he wouldn't have eyes watching his humiliation.

---

"Get in there and make sure he's okay! Calloway ordered Ramirez from his spot next to the screen that showed Dr. Reid's accommodations.

"What am I supposed to do if he's not okay?"

"Just get in there and check on him. You know who to contact if he's not."

"Why did you give him something so dangerous?" Ramirez stood his ground.

"I didn't pick Dilaudid for him. He's an addict with a very specific intravenous drug addiction. This particular drug slows the nervous system and can shut down your breathing. It's very dangerous."

"Then why did you give it to him in the first place?"

Calloway puffed up and scowled at Ramirez. "Don't question me. He's the one that gave us the perfect way to ensure his cooperation. Threatening his family and loved ones didn't do the trick, so I simply upped the stakes a bit. He'll do anything for his next fix, even if it's helping us to solve our cases."

"Calloway, I don't think-"

"You're not getting paid a truck load of money to think Ramirez. Get in there and make sure Dr. Reid is okay."

---

Ramirez opened the door to Dr. Reid's room. It was quiet as a tomb. The doctor was nowhere in sight. That meant he must still be in the bathroom. How typical… Ramirez couldn't count the number of times he'd read about junkies overdosing in bathrooms. What was it about all the porcelain and fake marble tile that made addicts shoot up and die there?

He knocked hesitantly on the door to the bathroom. When nothing happened he knocked again, a bit harder this time.

_What are you doing? He's not going to open up for you!_

That was true - he was probably passed out on the floor. He straightened his shoulder and opened the door. The light was on and it illuminated the whole room, including Reid sitting with his legs splayed out on the floor in front of the bathtub. The tourniquet was around his left arm and his head was lying on his chest. Ramirez couldn't tell by looking at him, if the man was breathing or not. He edged into the room for a closer look, and shut the door behind him.

Ramirez holstered his gun and approached him a little warily. He watched him for a minute more, but he couldn't see the rise and fall of the young man's chest. What if he wasn't breathing? He knelt down next to Reid and put his hand to the doctor's neck. He felt the pulse beat of his heart, a little fast, but it was there.

_"Dr. Reid…"_

The younger man's head jerked up and he grabbed Ramirez's shoulder so hard that the other agent cried out in pain.

"Hello Ramirez," Reid said with a smile.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

"Dr. Reid…"

The younger man's head jerked up and he grabbed Ramirez's shoulder so hard that the other agent cried out in pain.

"Hello Ramirez," Reid said with a smile,

"What the hell…"

Reid's free hand flashed out so fast that Ramirez didn't have time to react as something was shot into his eye. It burned like acid and he screamed in pain. Reid threw the empty syringe aside and shoved Ramirez away. Ramirez fell back against the toilet. His head rapped the edge of the porcelain rim and he went silent. The younger agent sprang up and over to Ramirez who had tears seeping out from under one eyelid. He was breathing slowly and appeared to be knocked out. He cautiously approached the agent, keeping his eye on the gun in his holster.

Reid knelt down over the man and reached for the gun. He cried out in surprise when on of Ramirez's hands shot out and grabbed Reid's wrist. Reid's eyes jumped to Ramirez's face. The eye he'd released the Dilaudid into was tightly shut and tears were running out of the corner. He yanked so hard on Reid's arm, that bright pain shot up to his shoulder. He was nearly pulled off his feet, but he dug in with is feet and pulled back. He fell back and his head hit the wall, seeing stars. Ramirez was struggling to his feet. Reid leapt up like a snake striking out at a mongoose. Ramirez had gained his feet and was rubbing at his eye with one hand and swinging wildly around with the other, which caught Reid under the chin, snapping his teeth together with an audible snap. He tasted blood in his mouth, but kept his eye on the man that was flailing around like a fish out of water.

Ramirez shoved at him again. Reid stumbled backwards, pushing the door to the bathroom shut with a bang.

"I'm sorry to do this." He said and smashed his fist into Ramirez's face. "Tell your boss I said thanks for the Dilaudid."

Ramirez went down like a felled steer in a slaughterhouse. His head hit the tank of the toilet. This time, he was out when Reid approached him. The young agent bent over him and checked his pulse with a hand that was shaking with reaction to the sudden fight. Ramirez was breathing and his pulse was strong so Reid leaned over and pulled his gun out of the holster. He searched Ramirez's pockets and found a ring of keys, a wallet and fifty seven cents in change. He laid the keys and the wallet to one side and pulled off Ramirez's shoes.

"I hope we're the same size." He said softly as he began stripping off the man's clothes.

----

Erin Strauss strode into her office and shut the door with a snap. Calloway was settled in to the chair across from her desk. One leg was crossed over the other and he was flicking a tiny piece of lint off the arm of the expensive looking suit jacket.

He looks entirely too comfortable! I'll put a stop to that.

"I see you're making yourself comfortable, Calloway."

"Hello Erin!"

"I told you never to call me that here. Have you lost the remainder of your senses?"

Calloway straightened up in his chair. His face went stony and he looked at the picture of the President over her shoulder.

_Bitch! Just like all women. When I take what's rightfully mine…_

"Pay attention Agent Calloway!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"It appears that someone has tipped off Aaron Hotchner and his team that Dr. Reid is missing."

"I know. Lynch informed me today. Don't worry, I have it under control. One of the reasons Lynch is working for us is to keep Dr. Reid under wraps. He's doing his best to keep that fat girl occupied and -"

"Don't brag about your technical analyst. Penelope Garcia is the best in the world."

"That chubby blond woman, she should have been booted out on her ample ass a long time ago. The way she flaunts the dress code and flirts with all the male agents is disgraceful!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"Why should I? I'm sure she enjoys her status because she's probably sleeping with Hotchner and Morgan as well as Lynch. She's nothing but a bitch whore who-"

Strauss came out of her chair. "_Shut up _and listen! Penelope Garcia's on a very short list. In fact, she tops that list. You underestimate her at your peril and mine. I'm in this hip deep just like you are. I expect you to succeed and take your place at the head of the BAU."

"I don't need your help to take what is mine."

"Yes you do. You couldn't do this without my help. In fact, the only reason I chose you to help me get rid of Agent Hotchner is that no one would suspect you. Your team has the worst record of all the teams in the bureau. No one pays attention to any of you because you're barely a blip on the radar."

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"I'll talk to you anyway I want. You remember who's in charge _here_."

"Yes ma'am!"

The Section Chief sat back in her chair and put her chin on the tips of her fingers. "Don't take that tone with me Agent Calloway, or I'll drop the right information into the right ear and you'll be in jail."

"You won't do it. You're in this as deep as any of us."

"I know how to cover my tracks. If you try to pin this all on me, no one will believe you. Now get out of here and make sure that Dr. Reid stays where he is. Don't underestimate him. If he can't talk his way out of this, he'll find another way. "

"He won't find a way out of his prison. He doesn't have any idea where he is and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to find the way out of that maze of rooms without a map.

"Your overconfidence will be your undoing. Unfortunately I can't allow you to mess this up. You will do as you're told and make sure that Agent Hotchner never finds out where he is. At least until we're ready to make our move. Officially, Internal Affairs should be taking the case, but I've asked Davidson to allow you to give your 'professional input,' to the case."

"Don't worry about Davidson and his crew."

"I'm not worried about Internal Affairs. As soon as Hotchner and his team finish the case they're on in Vermont, they'll be back here and looking for Dr. Reid."

Calloway tapped his thumbs together while he watched the SC with hooded eyes. "I would think that you could keep him busy enough to stay out of our business."

"I don't tell the teams where to go. I just make sure that they don't make disastrous mistakes like your slip up in Phoenix a year ago."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Yes it was. I covered it up for you because I knew I'd need you very soon. If you want it to stay covered, you'll make sure that Dr. Reid stays under wraps."

Calloway grimaced and nodded at the same time. "I'll keep him as _snug_ as a bug in a rug."

"You better, because all of you go down with me if I go down."

"May I go now?" Calloway had stood up and was facing her like a soldier on parade.

She waved him away with a flick of her perfectly manicured nails.

Calloway had put his hand on the door knob when Strauss called him back. "Oh Calloway," her head was bowed over a file. "Don't ever come in here when I'm out of the office and make yourself comfortable again. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes _ma'am_."

"_Watch _your tone!"

"Yes ma'am!"

He left the office brushing past two agents passing the door to Strauss's office. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" He glowered at them.

---

Reid put on Ramirez's shoes and holstered his gun. The pants were a bit too short and the shoes were a little tight, but there was no help for it.

_This might turn out to be the dumbest idea you've come up with in a long time. _

He looked at himself in the mirror. _Stop stalling! He's been in here too long. They're going to come in here looking for him._

He put the wallet on the counter and opened the door. _Just keep your head down and walk out as if you own the place._

_Yeah that would be very easy!_

_Just do it!_

He left the room with his head down, trying to copy the easy gait with which Ramirez walked. His heart was pounding and his throat was dry. His palms were greasy and they twisted off the door knob to the hallway when he tried it.

_Good one Dr. Reid. Now they'll send someone after you for sure._

He tried again, and winced at the cold feel of the doorknob on the palm of his hand. _Why do door knobs feel cold in the warmest of rooms?_

He boldly walked out the door and down the hallway. The carpet in the hallway was the same color as the carpet in his room. He kept his eyes on it as he tried not to run down the hallway. Every room he passed made his heart thump so hard it hurt.

_Anyone could walk out of those doors and then it would be over. _

He wiped his hands on the unfamiliar chinos. The clothes had felt like they'd just come out of the dryer when he put them on. The warmth from Ramirez's body in the material made him feel a bit ill.

_Just ignore it and get out of here._

He rubbed his hands on the pants again and took a right at the junction of two hallways_. If he went the opposite of where Stark had taken him to make his phone calls… _

His shoes whispered over the carpet as he fought down the urge to run pell-mell down the hallways of his prison.

_If you panic, you'll never get out of here._

He took another right at the next intersection. There were doors at regularly space intervals. He tried all of them, but they were all locked.

_What if there are others like me trapped down here? What if Calloway's got some kind of weird human collection going on?_

_That's crazy… You need to stop watching thrillers on Sunday nights! _

But the images of a couple horror movies he'd seen recently on DVD wouldn't leave his head. _From now on, no more horror movies either. Don't you see enough horrors on the job?_

He kept trying doors despite the sweat that was collecting on his palms once more. Everything looked the same to him. The carpet was the same, the smell of piped in air was the same, and the silence had the same heavy quality to it that had permeated his room.

_It wasn't your room. It was your prison. Don't get the two mixed up in that brain of yours._

The walls were plain white and the hallways seemed to go on forever before he found another junction. He made another right and his heart jumped in his throat. The sight of the elevator made it pound so hard that he got dizzy and sick at the same time.

He walked to the call button and pushed it before he could think about it too much. It seemed to take forever before the door opened. He was chewing on the thumbnail of his right hand when the car finally made it to his floor.

The doors opened and he stepped inside. The panel on the wall next to the doors showing that he was on the seventh floor. _Was that up or down? Were they in some kind of a bunker? Should he go all the way up or down?_

He pushed the number one and felt the elevator begin to ascend. The ride was rapid and so smooth that he wouldn't have known that he was going up if not for the initial lurch in his stomach.

The doors opened up at the first floor without the usual pinging announcement. He stepped out of the corner he'd been waiting in.

_You mean you were hiding in it!_

No one was waiting on the other side of the steel elevator car doors. The entryway was empty except for an emblem hanging on the white painted wall.

"Well I'll be damned!"


	19. Chapter 19

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Agent Stark strode into the computer room where Agents' Curtis and Brooks were working. The two of them were sitting in front of the computers with plates of food, chatting about something unknown. Lynch was at the surveillance cameras

"What's this, a picnic, I hope you're all making yourselves comfortable."

"Oh relax Gene; the good doctor is as snug as a bug in a rug."

"I don't know about that." Lynch said suddenly.

Stark was at his side in a flash. "What's going on?"

"Someone's going up in the elevator and since we're all in here…"

"Where's Ramirez?"

"Calloway sent him to check up on Dr. Reid. He gave our guest a bribe."

"What kind of bribe?" Agent Curtis demanded.

"He gave him a dose of Dilaudid."

"What!"

Stark rounded on the woman who'd shot out of her chair. Her light brown hair had been twisted up on the top of her head, but now locks of hair were falling out of the up-do onto her neck and face. One hand was twisting the pearls she wore around her neck. The other hand was shaking visibly. Her face had gone white and her eyes were blazing. Still, he walked right up to her and got into her face.

"Calloway knows what he's doing? So settle down and get back to work!"

"I don't think he does." Lynch said. "No one is supposed to go up without checking out and Ramirez didn't check out."

"Brooks, take Curtis, and go check out the doctor's room. Make sure Ramirez hasn't screwed up in there."

"Can I panic now?"

"Shut up Curtis!"

"Don't you tell me to shut up Stark? We agreed to this plan because Calloway is paying very well and we were promised that we'd be the darlings of the BAU instead of Hotchner's team."

"Don't worry about how this is going to play out for us. You just keep in mind all that money that's going to keep your mother in the home!"

"_You_ keep my family out of this!

"Your family is in this up to the hilt. You should've thought about that before you agreed to do this."

"Guys, _shut up _and listen to me!" Kevin shouted over the arguing agents. Stark opened his mouth, but Lynch cut him off. "I've got the footage from the camera in the hallways and the elevator."

Kevin ran the footage and it looked like a tall, thin man with Ramirez's clothes was headed away from Dr. Reid's room, directly to the elevators.

"That's not Ramirez!"

"How do you know?"

"Because you can see that he's hiding his face from the camera. Ramirez may be a stuck up son of bitch, but he never walks looking down at the floor."

"He's gone and Ramirez is passed out on the bathroom floor." Brooks had sprinted back into the computer room with Agent Curtis on his heels.

Stark rounded on Lynch. He lifted the shorter man out of his chair by his shirt. "Why didn't you realize this before Dr. Reid got as far as the elevators?"

"I was trying to tell you -"

"Stop it Stark. We have to get him back before Calloway comes back, or there will be hell to pay."

Stark dropped Kevin back into his chair. "You and I will be having a discussion when I get back!"

He left the room with Brooks and Curtis. Kevin rubbed the front of his shirt as though something nasty had been deposited on the collar, "Just following orders, _sir." _

--

The doors opened up at the first floor without the usual pinging announcement. He stepped out of the corner he'd been waiting in.

_You mean you were hiding in it!_

No one was waiting on the other side of the steel elevator car doors. The entryway was empty except for an emblem hanging on the white painted wall.

"Well I'll be damned!"

He couldn't help turning in a circle to take in the room. It was like the lobby of an expensive lawyer or accountant.

_Nice carpet! I suppose I should find it comforting that the dark blue color matches everything else. _

There was a highly polished, wood stained table with claw feet standing to one side. The crystal vase was filled with what looked like red roses.

He reached over and touched the velvety looking petals of the flowers. _Hm… silk flowers!_

_Yeah, and while you stand here admiring the décor, someone could be coming up in that elevator. Get the hell out of here!_

The door at the other side of the room looked like the door to the room he'd been kept in. There were no windows. If he opened it, would there be an exit on the other side, or just more hallways? He walked hesitantly over to the door and tried the knob. It opened and he saw light. It wasn't the light he'd seen for the last four days. It was the light of day. It was the sunlight. He stepped forward into the light and blinked like an owl before bedtime. Behind him a shrill alarm began to sound, startling him into a stumbling run into the light.

Something crackled under his feet as he ran away from the doorway. Trees were all around him and their leaves littered the ground in brown, gold and red piles. They snapped and popped as he moved as fast as he could run from the deepest part of the forest.

Someone was running to catch up with him. He could hear them breathing hard behind him. The labored breathing grew closer and the footsteps louder as he tried not to let the smell of the leaves make him sick. The faster he tried to run, the closer the pursuer seemed to get.

One of his feet slipped on the soft ground and the rotten leaves. He pitched headlong to the ground and landed with a bone jarring crash. He tried to roll over and confront the person that was following him, but the fall knocked the wind out of his chest. He couldn't breathe and his heart was stuttering like an old sewing machine.

_Don't panic!_

He gasped for breath and finally took in the smell of the trees, and the ground, and the rotting leaves under his body. His stomach heaved and nausea swept everything else out of his mind.

_Tobias shoved him hard and he fell to his knees in the soft earth. The smell of rotten leaves was the only smell there was in the universe. _

"_Get up and walk you sniveling little weakling." _

_No, if Tobias was going to kill him, better that it is right here right now. It didn't matter anymore. The team wasn't going to come for him. His clues has been too little too late. _

"_Get up or I'll shoot you like a rabid dog." _

_NO!_

This wasn't Georgia, and Tobias was dead. He was over this. The drugs and the smell of rotten earth couldn't hurt him.

_Austin is waiting for you. The team must know that you're missing. You have to meet them halfway. You know where you are now. _

_What about the one that was following you? _

He rolled over and saw that no one was there. The breathing and the footsteps had been made by him, running through the forest. He got to his feet, wincing at the pain in his knees. There were holes in the knees of Ramirez's pants. Blood was seeping through the hole in the left knee and it stung in the cold evening air.

_Forget it! It's not the worst injury you've ever had._

A snapping twig behind him made his heart jump into overdrive. He looked behind him and saw in the distance a door open out of the hillside. He saw the tall figure of Stark emerge into the deepening purple light. The Agent he recognized as Brooks followed Stark. Reid jumped behind a tree and watched them talking to each other. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be arguing which way to go.

_Don't just stand here and watch them. Get going… _

He was afraid to move. After that first dash behind the large tree with rough brown bark, he was afraid to move. _What if they saw him?_

_Yeah, just stand here and they'll find you in no time. Do you want to go back to your prison?_

He turned and ran to the left. Branches whipped his face and made it sting. One branch slammed into his nose and it began to bleed. He put out a hand and tried to keep more branches from slapping him in the face. Water droplets hit his face, neck and hands. _Had__it rained recently?_

He slipped again and nearly fell. Morgan would laugh to see him flailing around like a seal on ice and what he wouldn't give to hear that laugh. Then he could pretend that he was out in the woods searching for someone. He could pretend that it was someone else that was missing, not him.

He slipped again and fell. He felt his body roll down a hill, slamming into rocks and tree roots that had made their way to the surface of the ground. Pain exploded in his leg and his shoulder. He bit down hard on the scream that wanted to leave his chest when he landed on another rock. He barely missed slamming his head against a tree.

He tried to turn over onto his stomach without groaning. His leg felt like it was on fire and he cursed himself for not watching was he was going.

_Nice way to escape genius. Just run till you fall down an unfamiliar hill and kill yourself. _

_There's no need for sarcasm!_

The light wasleaving the sky fast. He had to find some way out of the trees before it was dark. He couldn't take another night in the forest with rotting leaves and the sounds of water dripping on the leaves.

_Remember the two pissed off agents looking for you?_

Yeah, he could hear voices behind him and footsteps. He looked around and saw that he'd landed on a foot path that looked very familiar. He followed it, trusting in his instincts telling him that he'd been here before. The path curved around as he half limped and half ran-hopped down the dirt path.

The voices sounded like they were getting closer and this time it wasn't his imagination. He looked back over his shoulder, but the light was too dim to see anything. He should go slower, but if he didn't hurry he'd be back in that prison again.

The path curved again in front of him. There was an opening coming up and he thought he could hear more voices. He stopped and stared at the fading light and the trees. What if the agents had someone coming form the other direction to stop him?

_Are you going to stay here all day and wonder who it is?_

_Anything was better then going back to Calloway and his team of crazies!_

The path ended suddenly about five minutes later. When he skidded to a halt at the opening, the sign on the brick wall in front of him was all too familiar:

_**Hurt**_

_**Agony**_

_**Pain**_

_**Love it!**_

He was so stunned at seeing the outer wall to Quantico military base, he couldn't move. He didn't hear the footsteps behind him or feel the hand on his arms till someone hit him over the head and once more the world was black.

_**A/n I stole the sign Reid sees, from a movie that I'm sure you've all heard of. If anyone can guess, you'll get virtual chocolate from Adele!**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n a couple of you got the movie reference in the previous chapter. It was "The Silence of the Lambs." **_

"The good news is that I found a life insurance policy on him for 5 million dollars. It was taken out one week ago."

"_I'll bet I know who it was that took out the policy." _

"_You would think that, but you'd be wrong." _

Hotch raised his eyebrows and the rest of the team waited with bated breath. "Tell me!"

"_It was the mother-in-law!"_

"Are you sure?"

"_When have I ever let you down?"_

Hotch smiled, but it was the same smile you might see on a shark getting ready to attack its prey.

"You rock baby girl." Morgan said gleefully.

"You better remember that, hot stuff. Now, from what I was able to find out, her mother, Mrs. Cash, had a thriving business on Fifth Avenue. One of those upscale boutiques called "Modern Woman. It catered to the rich and middle-aged."

"What's that got to do with Scott Simeon's undercover work?"

"I'm getting there handsome. Apparently, Mrs. Cash, who's real name is Nancy Casto, was implicated in money laundering when her son-in-law's task force busted the Giordano family just before the family went into the witness protection. She was given protection in exchange for her testimony. Word has it that she wasn't very happy when she had to leave her shop behind. Perhaps she's looking for financial compensation, especially since the MS has gotten bad so fast, so soon."

"Do I want to know how you got information like this?"

"No sir… Did I help?"

"Yeah…"

The phone call ended with Hotch asking Garcia to run down any associates of the Giordano's that might have stayed in touch with Mrs. Cash.

"Morgan, we've got enough for a warrant. Make sure you fill in Sheriff White. Let's give the locals the chance to bring her in. It's likely that she won't make a scene if they bring her in."

"I agree Hotch."

Hotch raised his eyebrows, "I thought you'd be chomping at the bit to bring her in."

Morgan pressed his hands to his temples. "I'm sorry I flew off the handle about Reid

"It's okay. Let's just find this little boy and bring him back to his mother."

---

Garcia tapped her pencil on the desk as she waited for more info on Nancy Casto and the Giordano family. Her eyes kept going back to the monitor that refused to yield its secrets about Reid. Something wasn't right!

_Of course something's not right, that's why you're trying to find him." _

She let her fingers fly over the keyboard without really thinking about where they were going. They tapped in a familiar code, and something didn't ring true about the response she was getting from her baby. It just wasn't right.

_Just because the command took a few seconds longer to execute, doesn't mean there's a problem._

She typed in another command and the screen flickered. She frowned down at the keyboard and her hands. Had she made a keying error?

_The Goddess of the Information Super Highway doesn't make typing mistakes._

When she looked up, the sight she'd picked at random was on her monitor looking exactly as it had the last time she'd logged in. The only thing that was wrong was that her systems seemed to be slowing down.

_Not possible, you just defragged this hard drive yesterday and freed up a truck load of memory. No self respecting virus would dare to invade. I'm hack-proof since Garner._

_Don't think about that freak!_

Fine, if someone was trying to hack her again, she'd find them and put them down like the dog they were. No one was going to hurt her family again.

Unfortunately, her second baby began beeping indignantly to her right. "Damn."

She rolled her chair over to the second monitor, and promptlyforgot what might be wrong with the other computer when she saw what her babies had come up with on Mrs. Cash and the Giordano family.

"Hotch is going to love this."

--

Hotch sat down opposite Mrs. Cash in the interrogation room at the police station. "Do you understand your rights, Mrs. Cash?"

"I understand."

"Do you want to exercise your right to council at this time?"

"No, I don't need a lawyer."

"Mrs. Cash… I'll get right to it. We know your name is Nancy Casto. We know you had ties to the Giordano family in Manhattan."

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the case."

"I'll get right to it. Who did you hire to kidnap your grandson, and kill your ex-son-in-law?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. I've seen the error of my ways"

"It must have really burned you when your son-in-law put you out of business. I'll bet you tried to talk him out of it. When that didn't work, I'm sure you tried to bribe him with a piece of the take. He was a good man and a good cop. He wouldn't have taken your bribe easily."

"I'm not answering your questions without my lawyer present."

Hotch went around and around with Mrs. Cash for an hour. She refused to break for him although her grey streaked hair was beginning to come down out of the elaborate knot on her head. Her white blouse was beginning to wilt, and her hands were shaking.

The door opened and Emily entered the room with a file folder in her hand. "Mrs. Cash would you like a drink of water."

Hotch left the room without as much as a backward look at Emily. He slammed the door, making the woman in the wheelchair jump.

"I'm sorry about him. He tends to get riled when kids are missing. Did you know Mrs. Cash, that when a child is kidnapped by a stranger, they have less than twenty-four hours to be found alive. We've been here for almost that long."

Mrs. Cash's eyes flickered to the case file and the picture of Glen that was on the top of it. The little boy's big blue eyes were smiling up at her from his class picture. He wore a red tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. One tear traveled down her cheek, unnoticed by her as she stared at the image of her grandchild

"I don't have anything to say. I don't know where he is."

"I know it was hard to move up here from New York. You were born and raised there. You had a successful business. Then your son-in-law took it all away from you. I don't blame you for getting in the middle and convincing her to divorce him. But, she went against you again, didn't she? She never stopped loving him. In fact, they were secretly seeing each other again.

"That's not true."

"It is true! Your daughter betrayed you. You wanted your old life back. You have a debilitating disease and you're stuck here in Podunk Vermont. You want your old life back and your friends back. If you can't have that then you want enough money to start over elsewhere. What was your plan?"

Hotch slammed back into the room at that point. "Stop babying her Emily… She knows where the kid is."

"I don't know!"

"Yes you do! Did you think that we wouldn't find out about the life insurance policy that you took out on your ex-son-in-law? Your grandson is the beneficiary of that policy!"

He slammed another manila file down on the table in front of the woman. "Is the boy already _dead_?"

"No, I'd never hurt him. I love him."

"Where is he?"

"I can't tell you. They'll kill him. They promised me he wouldn't be hurt if I got the money for them."

"Who told you that?"

"It was Vincent Martinelli. He was Giordano's right hand man. He found us despite the US Marshals giving us new identities."

"So you sold your son-in-law to them."

"It was his fault we had to come live here in the first place!"

Hotch rounded on the woman. His eyes were blazing and he gave Emily a warning look. "It was your involvement with the Giordano family that got you in trouble in the first place. How dare you blame a good cop for doing his job? What was next on your list? Are you going to kill your daughter too?"

"No, I love my daughter. She's better off without Scott." Her hands were twisting around in her lap and tears were creeping down her cheeks.

"Where is Glen? If you tell us now, you might get a break with the judge."

Hotch's phone beeped. He took the call and then returned to the room where Emily was trying to get the location of Glen from his grandmother.

"Don't bother Emily. Garcia already found him. He's in Manhattan. The police are already on their way."

"No! You can't go there. They'll kill him!"

"Why… I'm sure you have it all under control."

"I'm supposed to meet them with the money at Grand Central in four hours. If I'm not there, they will kill him."

"Where did you get the money? Your life insurance hasn't paid yet."

Mrs. Cash wouldn't look at Hotch. "Just like I thought, you still have money out there from your dealing with the family that you didn't disclose to the Marshals."

"How did you know?"

"We have a smart technical analyst."

"I have to go." She pleaded.

"You should have told your Marshals instead of getting greedy. And by the way, just because the Giordano's are in jail doesn't me you're safe. It was a dumb move to refuse further protection from them."

"That was my son-in-law's idea. I tried to tell him not to send them away, but he wouldn't listen. He thought he could protect us."

"Yeah… He didn't know that you were the biggest threat to his family. You disgust me!"

Hotch and Emily left the room. Sheriff White passed them in the hall looking as though someone had punched him in the stomach. "I trusted her."

"She couldn't resist the opportunity to get some of her life back." Rossi said as he came up behind the Sheriff.

"Will the police get Glen back?"

"The FBI and SWAT will find someone to go undercover as Mrs. Cash. The boy will be fine."

"What do we do now Hotch?'

"We leave it to the New York field office and the US Marshal's office. They'll call us when they have Martinelli and the boy."

"It feels like something is missing."

"Yeah, this one was a bit anticlimactic."

"No, it's not that, something else was missing."

"It's Reid, we solved it without him rambling on and on about some weird tangent. It doesn't feel right."

Hotch was looking at Emily as she spoke. "Wheels up in one hour. Let's go find Reid, Strauss or no Strauss!"

---

Austin threw another sweater into the bag she'd packed. It had been two days since she'd called Garcia. Her patience was wearing thin. Why hadn't the perky tech that she talked to called her back with anything?

She closed the suitcase and grabbed her bag. The ride down on the elevator to the outside door of her apartment building was quick. She had a flight out in four hours.

_What's his boss going to think when you show up at a military base?_

It didn't matter. She was going to go help them find Reid. Nothing else mattered till she knew what happened to him.

The night was cold so she pulled her jacket closer around her slight frame. The wind had picked up and it whined around her like some animal on the hunt. She hurried to where her car was parked. It felt like someone was watching her.

Her car was parked in her reserved parking space under a carport. The light was flickering and she cursed the maintenance guys. They should be on top of fixing the so-called safety measures.

_You're freaking out because your panicking. _She picked up the pace and was about to open the car door when a man said:

"Don't move and I won't have to hurt you?"


	21. Chapter 21

The elevator opened its doors on the sixth floor. Six exhausted, and disheveled people, moved off the car and into the entryway outside the double glass doors.

The Department Of Justice logo engraved on the doors of the Behavior Sciences Department obscured the bull pen, unless you knew how to look around the reminder that this was a Federal building inside a military base. This group of people made it an art form to look behind what was seen on the outside.

They walked single file into the bullpen. The tall, dark haired man with piercing dark eyes watched his team drop their ready bags next to their desks. He didn't give them time to decompress or even sit down to paperwork that awaited them.

"Everyone, I need you all in the round table room, now!" At Hotch's order, they trooped up to the room, followed by Garcia who been watching them come into the bullpen by way of the security cameras.

"I can't find anything sir." Garcia was wringing her hands and pacing while they sat down around the table.

"It's okay Garcia. Why don't you sit down?"

"Thank you sir."

She took her seat next to Morgan, who was slumped down in his chair. She touched his arm and he looked over at her. He gave her a very weak smile.

"We'll find him mama."

"Yes we will… Morgan I want you and Emily to go to his apartment immediately. Go through everything!"

"Sir, Kevin told me that Agent Calloway's team has been assigned Reid's case. Shouldn't was talk to them?"

"I'll talk to Calloway. I need you to get into Reid's lap top. I want to know who he's been talking to. I want to know every site he's visited in the last thirty days."

"But sir, should we invade his privacy like that."

"Yes!" His face softened a tiny bit at her stricken look. "We need to look into everything if we're going to find him."

"Yes sir."

"Dave, one of us has to talk to Strauss."

"I'll have a go at it. You know what she's going to say."

"I know, but I'm willing to go all the way on this, including losing my job."

"We all are, Hotch." Emily and Garcia nodded in agreement at Morgan's observation.

Hotch looked over at Jordan who'd been very quiet. "You don't have to risk your job. It's not your fault that this happened while you're filling in for JJ."

"With all due respect sir, this team is a family anyone can see that. I'll do what I have to do."

"Alright, let's get to work."

They filed out, moving much faster then they had upon entering the bull pen. Garcia brought up the rear and was stopped by a hand on her arm. "Don't worry baby-girl, he'll understand."

"I know Derek, I just hate this."

"Morgan's right, we have to do everything we can to find him." Hotch favored her with a real smile and she beamed back. "Then why are we standing here. Let's get to work.

---

Kevin put down the phone next to his bank of computers and monitors. "That was Jasper. The gang is back and they don't look happy!"

Agent Curtis had just returned to the room from dealing with Ramirez and his eye. "I didn't think they would be." She ran a hand through her hair, which was beginning to look like she just got out of bed.

"They found Reid." He announced.

"I know Lynch, I have to get in there now and make sure they didn't get too rough with him."

"How did a nurse get to be a profiler?" Kevin asked.

"I don't recall ever intimating that I wanted to be your friend."

"Just asking."

"Well don't ask!" She left the room and didn't hear him curse her under his breath.

---

Reid woke up with a screaming headache. He turned over and so did his stomach. He managed not to throw up, but it was a close thing. Bile made his stomach and throat burn. He wondered where he was till the same, damn, cloud painted sky came into view.

"Hello Dr Reid. You shouldn't have tried to run away."

Reid raised his head, fighting down the nausea again. His arm and his knee were burning with pain. He gritted his teeth against the groan that wanted to escape his belly.

"You must be in real pain. Agent Curtis is very well trained, thanks to the US military. She'll be in here to tend to you. You should have stayed here instead of trying to leave."

"_Screw you!" _Reid said through a thigh jaw.

"Now Dr Reid, that's not very nice of you. I would've thought that someone with your large vocabulary could come up with something much less pedestrian."

"Does the phrase, 'f-off,' mean anything to you?"

"Tsk, Tsk, Dr. Reid. I'm _very_ disappointed in you."

"I don't care. I'm done cooperating with you."

When Calloway began to laugh, Reid forced his body to sit up on the bed. His ribs protested, and his head spun, but he pushed up anyway. "You'll cooperate with me."

"No I won't…"

"You will!"

"We can argue all day but I know that you won't hurt anyone I know. They're empty threats and words. If you let me out of here now, I'll testify to diminished capacity and you might get out of jail in seven years."

Calloway strode across the room and hit Reid in the face. Pain exploded in his cheek, but he bit back another scream. Instead, he made himself smile up at his captor.

"I knew you'd snap and hit me eventually. Guys like you can't help themselves."

Calloway was standing there with his hands in fists at his side. His chest was heaving and his eyes were blazing. He didn't look sane, but he wasn't anywhere near as frightening to Reid as Tobias, or even Cyrus had been. He was pathetic.

"I told you that torture and physical pain don't work on me. I even managed to ignore your attempt to get me to shoot up again. What else are you going to do?"

"I apologize for hitting you Dr. Reid. I abhor violence of any kind. I feel if you have to resort to acts of violence, you've failed."

"I agree."

"That being said, I don't have a problem with psychological torture."

"That won't work on me."

"I think it will!"

Kevin entered the room as if right on cue. He was carrying a lap top which he set up on the coffee table and left without a word to Reid or Calloway. Reid tried to catch his eye, but the other man wouldn't look at him.

"What's this?"

"This is going to be your best friend for the as long as you are here. You see, I have another guest and I want you to be able to see each other."

Reid slid off the bed at Calloway's 'come over here' gesture. The floor seemed to be slanted for some reason. Perhaps he had a concussion from falling and getting hit by one of Calloway's goons.

The screen of the lap top showed a black and white picture of a room that looked like his. Standing in the middle of the room was Austin. Stark was there with her and he had an arm around her. A knife was in his hand and held to her throat.

"Spencer…" She screamed through her tears.

Reid tried to go for the door, but Calloway stopped him with a word. "I'll kill you and let Stark have your girl."

"Leave her alone. Please just let her go."

"I don't think so."

"Spencer!" She screamed again.

"Dr. Reid…" Stark was looking right into the camera. "Your girl is very beautiful. It would be a pity to damage her lovely face." He moved the knife to just below her right eye.

"I'll kill you both!"

"Temper, temper, Dr. Reid," Calloway neatly sidestepped when Reid ran at him. The younger man fell into the wall and then to his knees on the carpet.

"Where is she?"

"Now you know better then that." Calloway's gun hand was steady as Reid climbed to his feet. "Don't worry, you're little girlfriend is just fine. I believe she's sleeping."

"I said… Where is she?"

"She's down here with us. Don't even think about trying to find her. There are too many hallways, and too many rooms to search, and too many cameras to avoid. Even with your big brain, you'd never figure out where she is. Now, get to work on that case. The sooner you give me something to work with, the sooner you'll get to talk to your girl. Meanwhile, Stark will keep an eye on her. I'm sure he'll enjoy that, she's very beautiful. What did you have to do to get her attention?"

"Shut up!"

"Did I strike a nerve, Dr. Reid?"

"Don't talk about her!"

Reid limped to his usual seat on the couch. He couldn't take his eyes off the monitor or Austin.

"You must be a very smooth talker to get her attention."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know more then you think I do. I know that you've never had a real girlfriend. I know that this Austin is someone you met on the job. She lives hundreds of miles away from you, just like Lila Archer.

"You don't know anything."

"I think it's interesting that you tend to attract women that are geographically undesirable. Is that because you're afraid of women Dr. Reid?"

"Your tricks won't work on me."

"Your voice is shaking Dr. Reid."

"We're not going to play this game?"

"Yes we are… Now back to the lovely Austin. Does she know you're a virgin Dr. Reid?"

Reid began to laugh, "Is that the best you can do Calloway?

Calloway's gun hand was shaking, but his face was as impassive as Hotch on his best day. "Okay, no more games."

"I don't believe you."

"Give me a name and I'll let your girl go. She hasn't seen our faces yet. I'll even let you talk to her so you can convince her that you never want to see her again."

_Don't do it. You need her!_

"I won't cooperate with you."

"Then you'll both be down here forever. And the only way you'll ever see her again is through this monitor. Oh by the way, don't try to use the lap top. There's nothing on the hard drive but the program that runs the cameras to her room. Kevin's made sure that you can't tamper with them or send any messages. You might be a good profiler, but I know you aren't a computer wiz."

"Just get out of here."

"Why so testy Dr. Reid?"

"_Get… Out… Of … Here!"_

"I'll leave you to your thoughts."

Calloway left, locking the door behind him. Reid leapt from his chair and limped as fast as he could to the bathroom. He threw up everything that was left from his last meal. He stayed on his knees by the toilet long after it flushed away the contents of his stomach.

When he was able to get to his feet, he looked in the mirror. The eyes looking back at him as he washed out his mouth were hopeless. How was he going to find Austin and get out of this now?


	22. Chapter 22

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n thanks again to all my loyal readers. And to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC who keeps me on track. She doesn't keep Adele on track because no one can keep track of that Muse!**_

Morgan opened Reid's apartment door with his key. He entered with his gun drawn. Emily followed him going in low and calling out in perfect unison. "FBI!"

"Reid, its Morgan and Prentiss. If you're here, call out."

Silence assaulted their ears as though someone had abruptly cut off a wailing heavy metal singer in mid scream. It was deafening in its intensity.

They separated to clear the small apartment. The early morning light that seeped into the rooms, around tightly closed blinds, leaving stripes of gold on the carpet. Their feet moved back and forth through the light till they were sure that they were alone in the small living room.

Morgan opened the blinds on the sliding patio door and Emily did the same in the kitchen. The resulting brightness was annoyingly cheerful, like rock and roll band at a child's funeral.

"Flip you for the chance to check out Reid's bedroom."

"Not funny Derek!"

"Just a little gallows humor. I'm trying to relieve some of the tension."

"I know… I just can't believe this is happening again."

"Yeah, after we find my man, I'm getting him fitted with a bell around his neck."

"You don't think he'll object to that."

"I don't care!"

"Let's just check this place out. We'll just pretend that this is any other victim."

"I can't do that."

Emily put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We have to find away to get through this without falling apart. If that means thinking of Reid as just another victim, then I'll do it."

"I'll take his bedroom." Morgan said.

----

Hotch was waiting for Calloway when he strolled into this office. It was seven am and he was carrying a very large cup of Starbucks coffee.

"Agent Hotchner…. What can I do for you?"

"My team just returned from Vermont. I was informed that your team is looking for Dr. Reid."

"Yes, Section Chief Strauss asked me to find him. She wants to keep IAB out of this as long as possible."

Hotch took the chair across from Calloway's desk. Though Hotch sat, he seemed to tower over Calloway. The team leader was smiling angelically and sipped his coffee as though they were watching a football game.

"I'm here because I'd like a professional courtesy."

"Of course, whatever I can do for you. I'm sure that you have a lot on your plate without Dr. Reid."

"My team can function without Dr. Reid. But, we would like to have our team back and running at its full capacity."

"The chain is only as strong as its weakest link."

Hotch raised any eyebrow. "An interesting analogy. I like to think of my team as a family, not as slaves or servants."

"I'm sure that works well for you. Me, I like to keep my work and home life separate. To think of my team as a family would be disastrous. Too much closeness clutters up the works if you let yourself get too involved with the people you work with. Don't you agree Hotch?" His smile was larger and his eyes were twinkling like he'd just told the funniest joke anyone had ever heard.

"No, I don't agree. I think certain closeness is important in the work we do. Without it you can't trust your team to have your back when it's important."

"That's the difference between you and me, Hotchner."

"What can you tell me about your investigation?"

"My team is working on it. I don't really have anything to tell you."

"Yes, I can see that."

Calloway's eyes narrowed. He shifted in his chair, and his hands began playing with a pen on his green desk blotter.

"I don't like your tone."

"I'm not here to have a friendly conversation with you. I'm here to find a member of my team."

"Are you saying that I'm not doing enough to find him?"

"Yes!"

"Perhaps I'll talk to Section Chief Strauss."

"If you feel that's necessary, by all means do so. I'll be happy to speak with the Director."

"I don't think we need to involve the Director at this point!"

"No, I don't suppose you do."

"I'm doing the best that I can with what I have to work with. We don't even know for sure that Dr. Reid is actually missing. Strauss told me that there's been no contact with a kidnapper. They haven't asked for ransom or for anything else. She said that your technical analyst was the one to raise the alarm. Supposedly, she was contacted by a victim from one of your cases in Atlanta. She expressed an inordinate concern for your team member. Strauss was not happy to know that your profiler was off to see a young woman he'd met in the course of his duties. Tell me Agent Hotchner, is it common for your team members to get involved with victims. I believe that's a bit unprofessional.

It was Hotch's turn to smile a rare smile, but it turned Calloway's spine to jelly. "I don't believe it's any of your business what my agents do in their free time."

"I'm a profiler Hotch. You know I have to consider victimology in this. What Reid does in his spare time is very important. How do we know that he didn't just decide to disappear? He wouldn't be the first profiler on your team to just walk away and disappear. You've had a lot of trouble with that in the last couple of years."

"Agents Gideon and Greenaway have nothing to do with Dr. Reid's disappearance."

"That's where you're wrong. I think it speaks to poor leadership."

Hotch stood up. "I'm not here to talk about leadership style. If you can't do your job and find my agent, then my team will do your job for you."

He left the office, shutting the door just a bit harder then was necessary, but not quite slamming it. Calloway dropped back in his chair. Hi heart was racing and his palms were sweating profusely.

_Just remember what you're goal is._

He unclenched his hand and picked up his phone. Strauss was going to hear about this visit. She'd better get control over her Unit Chief if they wereto succeed.

---

Morgan left Reid's bedroom and almost ran into Emily leaving Reid's bathroom. "What did you find?"

"You want the good news first, or the bad news."

"The bad news first."

"Everything that you'd take on vacation or for a short trip is gone."

"Yeah, same here."

"The good news is that all his books are gone. His refrigerator has been cleaned out and the garbage disposed of. "

"Reid could have done that. He was going to be gone for a couple of weeks."

"I don't think he packed all his books into his suitcase. He was going to spend time with a beautiful woman that seems to adore him."

"Come on, Reid isn't what you'd call a Casanova."

"And what, pray tell, does that have to do with anything."

"I'm just saying that Reid isn't very experienced with the opposite sex. You know we have to do victimology. Why this victim at this time and this place. Reid is a twenty-seven year old white guy. He's a genius that was abandoned by his father at the age of ten. His mother is in an institution for a mental disorder. He's terrified of ending up like her even though the average age for Schizophrenia to manifest itself has passed. He goes to Comic-Con. He loves Star Trek and reads anything that isn't nailed down.

If you were looking into the disappearance of anyone other the Reid with these clues," He gestured around the apartment. "What would you think?"

"I'd wonder if he chickened out on seeing a woman that might intimidate him sexually, no matter how much he likes her."

"So…"

"Okay, but how do you explain that the whole place is scoured top to bottom and that all his books are gone."

"I can't… All of his clothes and shoes are gone too. I'm sure he didn't pack up his whole life for vacation. But then again, maybe he got tired of looking at blood everyday. Maybe he decided to drop out of sight. "

"I don't believe that anymore then you do."

"Then lets get CSI in here and go over this place with a fine tooth comb."

---

"Come in!" Strauss growled at her office door.

"Hello Erin!"

"I told you not to call me by my first name while you're working here."

"Come on Erin. I don't think anyone cares what I call you." He shut the door and sat down without an invitation."What are you doing in here?"

"I think you know."

"If you're here to plead Agent Hotchner's case on why your team should be allowed to work Agent Reid's case you can save your breath."

"I'm not here to ask your permission Erin. I know where some of the bodies are buried around here. I have my own contacts and friends here."

"I don't respond to threats, Agent Rossi."

"I'm sure you don't."

Strauss finally put down the file she was reading and took off her glasses. "I'm not up to a verbal sparring match with you today."

"I'll bet you're not. I just want you to know that we'll be helping to find Dr. Reid."

"David!"

"It's not up for discussion. If I have to I'll resign right now and work this on my own."

Strauss had got up from her chair and was standing right in front of Rossi. "Perhaps we need to involve IAB after all."

"I don't think we need to do that. Not unless you want me to give them an earful about you."

"You're bluffing."

"I can see in your eyes that you don't believe that Erin. Do you want my badge, yes or no?"

"No, I don't want your badge Agent Rossi."

"Good, then I assume you will reassign all the teams cases till we have Dr. Reid back."

"You're pushing the limit with me."

"I know…"

"Get out of my office!"

"Do we have a deal?"

"Fine, do whatever you want. Just be sure that we don't have a repeat of what happened in Georgia two years ago."

"You leave us alone and we won't!"

"I said get out of my office!"

"Always a pleasure doing business with you Erin."

---


	23. Chapter 23

_**Disclaimer: see my profile.**_

_She was here! How! She was supposed to be safe in Atlanta!_

He paced the length of the room, limping on his bad leg and trying to ignore the pain that shot through the knee like knives in soft butter.

_I shouldn't ignore it. I should embrace it. This is my penance for playing with Calloway._

His eyes skipped over the door to the bathroom. It mocked him with the promise of oblivion. The peace from pain and having to think about all the mistakes he'd made was calling him. His empty stomach clenched in his belly and his head pounded in time with his knee.

He walked faster.

_Even if you had the courage to open the door, it won't be there anymore._

He stopped in front of the door. It was painted white. He never noticed that before. It was like the clouds on the ceiling.

_Why didn't I notice that before? What does it matter?_

It didn't matter because he could ignore it and go back to pacing. He could think about anything except the bathroom and a sliver tipped needle that gleamed in the light.

_Austin… Think about her and how she going to hate you when this is over. . _

His knee hurt so bad it was competing and winning the contest for his whole attention. The ice pack that Agent Curtis had given him hadn't worked for long. It was lying discarded on the couch and probably half melted by now.

_How long have I been here?_

He limped so bad that he staggered over the floor like a toddler learning to walk for the first time. The walls seemed to move around him and the door to the bathroom called out to him. There was enough in the needle to take the edge off the pain.

Austin flitted into his head, pushing away the need that was red hot in his belly and behind his eyes. The pain pulsed like someone was trying to drill in his head.

_Get it together and figure out a way out of here. You have to be strong for Austin. Nothing else matters!_

But it did matter!

_The only thing that matters is remembering what happened._

"I don't want to remember!"

His voice didn't echo. It stopped at the walls as though cotton batting had filled the room from one end to the other.

_Remember…_

"No!"

_Shut up or they will hear you!_

He opened his eyes and he was standing in front of the bathroom door. His fingers reached out and grasped the handle. It was smooth and his fingers slipped over it as though testing the texture of a loaf of bread. It opened easily when his hand tightened and turned.

_What are you doing?_

His feet were bare! _Why did you take off your socks?_

The tile was shiny and white. It was very cold on his toes, the bright pain in his head and his knee blocked out the coolness of the tiles under his feet.

_Where is it?_

The needle wasn't on the floor where he'd left it. _Calloway took it! He's trying to drive you into doing what he wants. _

Rage lowered a red haze over his eyes. _Where the hell was the god-damn needle? _

_Stop it! Stop hiding behind your fear. Nothing is as bad as Tobias Henkel. _

_That's not true. Emily took a beating for me. She must have thought I'd break._

_Think Spencer, don't get distracted. _

One hand had become a fist and was rapping against the edge of the sink. More pain didn't push away the memories that were beginning to surface.

_The light was strong. It blinded him from the face of the man that had hit him over the head and put him in that dark trunk._

_He tilted back and shoved his legs into the light. There was a loud groan and a curse as the light fell away from him into darkness. The half -light spilled onto the legs of the person that stood over him. The person was holding his mid-section and leaning over. _

_He couldn't see the man's face in the low light. Thunder boomed and he cringed. The man moved and he pushed away with his legs, clambering over the side of the trunk. He fell with crunch into leaves. They snapped and crackled under his body. _

_Someone kicked him in the ribs and he screamed. The smell of the earth and leaves mixed with the ozone in the air and the pain in his side. He screamed again when the foot connected with his arm. He rolled away and tried to climb to his feet. Lightning flashed and the white light mixed with golden light of the flashlight. He stood half doubled over from the pain in his ribs. _

"_Let's not panic." A familiar voice said. "We're in the middle of nowhere. There's nowhere you can run to. _

Reid's eyes opened and new pain worked its way through the headache and body aches. The knuckles of his right hand were bleeding from rapping against the edge of the counter top.

He looked around the room as thought seeing it for the first time. The new phantom pain seemed to clear his head. The Dilaudid was gone. It had been squirted into Ramirez's eye.

_Get it together! There's no easy pain relief here. Why did you think there was in the first place?_

_I'm losing it!_

_Yes you're losing it. Get it together before Calloway decides that you've served your purpose and kills you. _

_There's so much pain. I don't want to remember, something bad will happen if I do. _

_Get it together for Austin. Calloway will kill her if you don't!_

He looked down at the counter top where he'd been rapping his red drops of blood fell, elongated and hit the white tile floor. They lay there like an accusation.

_Do you want to watch her die? Do you want to have blood on your hands? _

His hands started to shake again but not from the desire for the poison that had clouded his mind for so long. Fighting against Calloway was useless now because Austin would pay the price.

_So get it together!_

He ran his hand under cold water and then threw some up in his face. His eyes were red and they burned as though he'd stared at a computer screen or crime scene photos for too long.

_You know who did this to you! _

_It wasn't him!_

_There's only one way to find out._

---

Calloway entered the room with Stark and Brooks following him. "You should have taken the Dilaudid when you had the chance Dr. Reid. You must be in a lot of pain."

The young doctor was sitting on the couch with his legs drawn up to his chest. He was rocking back and forth making the leather squeak under his body.

"What do you want?"

"I'm here because you looked like you'd finally come to a decision about out discussion."

"I'll tell you what you want to know. First, I have to verify that the facts are true, and then I want you to release Austin. She has nothing to do with this. If you let her go I'll promise to stay with you for was long as you want. I won't try to run again."

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."

Reid was fingering the edge of his pant cuff. "I don't really care if you believe me or not. I can get you the answers you're looking for."

"Why don't you just give me a name?"

"Because I'm not sure if my memories are real, I've had problems with it lately."

"Give me the name and I'll have Mr. Lynch look into it."

"He can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because if I am right, the only record you'll find is related to my education. I had Penelope Garcia encrypt my file a long time ago. It includes my medical records and my educational files. I have a lot of enemies and curious people that have tried to find out all they can about me."

"I'm sure that's true. Why don't you give the password to Brooks here and tell us what to look for."

"I can't! There's a virus attached to the file. If I don't go in and type in a certain code at the end of the file, the virus will wipe it clean."

"Why don't you tell us the code?"

"Shut up Brooks."

"He's right… We've got all the leverage we need in the room down the hall…"

"Be quiet Brooks!"

The other man fell silent. Reid continued to rock in his seat. His eyes were tied to the clouds on the ceiling as though no one else was in the room. They moved back and forth like they watched the clouds in the summer sky, gliding through the blue like sails on a boat.

"Are you _listening _Dr. Reid."

"I don't care what you do to me. Let her go and I'll help you."

"Alright, I'll let her go."

Reid looked down from the ceiling. His dark eyes focused intently on Brooks and the man shifted away as though struck.

"We can't let him dictate to us what to do."

"Shut up Stark. Take him to a computer. If he tries to send a message to anyone, kill the girl. "

"Calloway!"

"Just _do_ it!"

---

Morgan and Emily met Rossi, Hotch and Jordan in the conference room. There were bags of food on the table which Jordan was opening. Morgan grabbed the roast beef and cheddar on sour dough and sat down.

"We went over Reid's apartment with a fine tooth comb."

Hotch was spooning up Italian Wedding Soup with a plastic spoon. He swallowed and said. "Did you find anything out of the ordinary?"

"Not unless you count the stack of Playboys next to his bed."

Jordan choked on her Cobb salad. "What!"

"Morgan!"

"Don't get mad at me. Hotch was the one that said he wanted to know if there was anything out of the ordinary. I consider porn mags in Reid's bedroom a little unusual."

Emily didn't look surprised which made Rossi grin over his ham and swiss on pumpernickel. "He said the articles are really good. And you know how he likes to "research," everything. May this is his way of 'researching' women." She said after swallowing a spoonful of chicken noodle soup.

"Right, It's all for research. _Who_ reads those articles anyway?" Morgan snorted.

"This is _serious_ Morgan."

"I know it is. I'm throwing you a bone here. We didn't find anything and neither did the CSIs, they said the place was sterilized."

"Have them go over it again." Hotch said.

"I _already_ did that!"

"Alright, did we get his lap top?"

"Yeah, that's the only break we may have got from his place. If there's anything on it, Garcia will find it for us."

Hotch took another spoonful of his soup and chewed the small meatballs thoughtfully. "Let's go over all of it again. Starting with Austin's call to Garcia…"

----

Penelope Garcia typed furiously on Reid's laptop. She was deep into Reid's computer, but nothing out of the ordinary was there.

He was writing a book, she noticed, but resisted the urge to read the first seven chapters he'd finished. The title: _**Drug Addiction through the Eyes of an FBI Agent,**_ spoke for itself.

Nothing weird showed up in his browsing history on the internet either. This was going nowhere, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something

She rubbed her temples. The headache that had started three days ago was like an ice pick in her brain. There was nothing she could do about it. It was purely stress related. The only thing that would cure it was for her sweet Reid to be found and back where he belonged.

She switched over to her computer system and typed in another command. She waited for the program to initiate. Once again, the command was slow. The program she'd written to look for invasive programs hasn't turn anything up yet, but soon she know if it was internal or an outside threat.

_Who could it be?_

This wasn't supposed to happen. She put in four extra layers of security when Randall Gardner had hacked her system. She'd also added a couple of layers when Battle had shot her and her encrypted files had been discovered by Kevin.

_Wait… The last time someone tried to hack into her system had been…_

There was a strident beep from the computer that was searching for the answers to Reid's disappearance. She shoved over in her chair and dropped her pen when she saw the data that was scrolling down her screen.

"What the hell it going on?"


	24. Chapter 24

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n thanks to all my loyal readers and everyone that has made suggestions or chatted with me about this story. All of your input has made this a better story. Thanks also to my awesome beta who is first and foremost a most excellent sounding board. **_

"Sit down and enter the code Dr. Reid or the girl is dead."

"You won't kill her!"

"You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you don't like to get your hands dirty. You leave that it to the people you surround yourself with."

Calloway shoved Reid into the chair next to Lynch. "I told you to help Lynch get into that file."

"Alright…"

"Hello Dr. Reid," Kevin said pleasantly.

"Don't pretend we're friends Lynch."

"Don't be that way. If you cooperate with Calloway, you'll discover that working with us is more rewarding than being stuck with Hotchner."

"I'm curious Lynch, what did Hotch do to you?"

"Enough chit-chat Dr. Reid, we need a name." Calloway prodded him in the back with his gun.

Reid guided the man that he'd once trusted into his encrypted files. After the last password had been entered files popped up on screen with pictures and statistics of the staff at Caltech in 1998. He helped Lynch get through the layers to one person that he'd finally remembered just before Calloway had come knocking on his door again.

"Come on Lynch… What did Hotchner ever do to you? Or is it what he did to Calloway here," Reid said as the information glided by on the screen.

Calloway slammed his fist into Reid's face. The younger man fell forward, knocking Lynch's chair askew. "Hey, I'm trying to hack into encrypted files here." He shouted up at Calloway.

"Shut up and get back to work."

Reid was sitting up with one hand cradling his cheek. Tears of pain were rolling out from the corners of his eyes. He looked at the floor and Calloway's shoes.

"I told you not to push me Dr. Reid. Give me a name to work with."

"It's that one." He pointed to a photograph that was ten years out of date.

"Well… this is a surprise. I must say that I understand why you didn't tell anyone. Did you tell the FBI when they hired you?'

Reid kept his eyes on Calloway's shoes and one hand to his face "No, I didn't tell the FBI. I told you I didn't remember. They told me I might not remember. The doctors said that it was the result of shock. Now I know that I didn't remember because of something else that happened to me when I was a small boy.

"Well, now we have a name to work with. Lynch, get to work and find out everything you can on Michael Reid. All we have now is the word of Dr. Reid. We need to dig up more evidence to bring him in."

---

Garcia sat in dumbstruck wonder for three seconds before her fingers began to fly over the keyboard. How was this file opened and who was responsible? She picked up her phone and dialed the first name on speed dial.

Three minutes later everyone was in the conference room staring at her lap top.

"What are we seeing Garcia."

"Sir, it's a file I encrypted for Reid."

"Garcia… We talked about this."

"I know sir, but this is just his medical records and school records. It was supposed to keep prying eyes out of his personal information."

"It's alright," Hotch relented as they all leaned forward towards her lap top. All of them stared at it as though they could will it into speaking and reassuring them that everything would be okay.

"When I encrypted this file I made sure that only Reid and I have the password. It changes every sixty days. We just changed it again before he went - I mean before he disappeared. Also, there is a code that has to be given, or whoever tries to get into the records will wipe the hard drive of the computer they're using.

As a safety precaution, the code also opened the files for me to see on my computer. It alerts me that something is wrong. We set it up in case anyone tried to kidnap Reid again. If he got access to a computer he could put in the code and I'd be alerted. The code also locks on to the user's IP address."

"What's that? It looks like it's moving on its own." Rossi asked.

"That's the person looking into his file. It's like when you call for IT support and the tech takes over your computer."

"Is someone taking over your computer?"

"Don't panic boss. I'm in complete control."

Her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Now, the reason I called you all in here is because of this."

She brought up the old personal file from Caltech. "Does he look familiar to any of you?"

"Yeah… he looks like William Reid, but it's not him."

"You get the gold star sugar. That's Michael Reid. He's William's brother and Reid's uncle."

"Why is Reid pulling up his file for someone?"

"I don't know boss man. That's the three million dollar question."

"Get on it Garcia. I want to know everything there is to know about Michael Reid. Can you follow the IP back to the person looking into this file?"

"I'm already on it. Its slow going though, whoever is behind all this has some serious hacking skills. And sir I have something else to tell you all."

"What is it Garcia?"

She was twisting her hands in her lap and she looked like Hotch might yell at her. "I'm sorry didn't come to you when I first realized that there was a problem. I thought I was imagining things. "

"Garcia…"

"I'm sorry sir. I've been having trouble with some of my equipment."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Well, it's like someone is trying to keep me from digging into what could've happened to Reid. Every time I make progress, it's like someone is blocking my path."

"Baby-girl… I know you're the best hacker in the world, but do you think you're working too hard on this? When we the last time you slept?"

"You sound like Kevin…" She shouted, leaping up from her chair. "I'll figure out what's going on if it's the last thing I do."

"Baby-Girl!"

"Don't you talk sweet to me Derek Morgan? I'm not a child."

She swept out of the room with her lap top and her dignity under her arm. She looked like a queen on the way to her throne. Morgan smiled widely after her.

"Seriously though, is she working too hard?"

"What do you suggest I do Dave, knock her over the head and drag her off to sleep?"

"No, I think you should get Morgan to do it."

"No problem!"

"Morgan!"

"I'm serious. I know we need her, but she's looking like a ghost instead of my Goddess."

"You'll never get her out of here."

"I can try Hotch."

---

"_Calm down Spencer. We're just going to play a game." _

_Thunder growled over his head. It was getting closer. He could feel the electricity on the air. A jagged yellow slash of lightning crossed the sky as though thrown by the Gods. He flinched and backed away when the person that had hit him over the head, tied him up and brought him to this place, came closer. _

"_Why are you doing this?"_

_The man picked up the flashlight and aimed it at the forest floor. All the leaves under their feet were brown and black. Thunder crashed again and lightning tried it's best to split open the sky. The light from the flash lit up the face of the man that stood in front of him. _

"_You always were curious Spencer. Even as a kid you asked question after question. And they weren't like the questions of any average five year old. You wanted to know things that you had no business asking. You used to drive us all crazy with your questions."_

"_I'm not going to apologize for my childhood. Are you going to answer my question?"_

_He should be running far away, but now that he knew who'd done this to him, he couldn't make his feet move. _

"_I don't know the answer to your question. When I was a little boy I didn't know why I killed small animals or wet the bed, or started fires. Then I went to college and I read books. I know what I am Spencer. I'm a sociopath. I like what I do to others. I've always wanted to kill and torture humans. I suppose I'm starting with you because I know you. They said in the books that the most famous serial killers in history always start out with someone they know. It's more intimate and satisfying."_

_The blood in his veins felt like liquid ice. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do. His feet were cemented to the ground and they wouldn't move. _

_His favorite uncle moved closer. Why hadn't he seen what his uncle was? He should have seen something in eyes that were so like his father's and his own eyes._

_Don't think about Dad!_

"_Don't worry Spencer. You'll become a part of history. You're about to become the first of many that will follow. I'll be like Jack the Ripper. They'll never catch me." _

"_How can you do this to Dad and Mom?"_

"_Don't pretend that you care about Bill." _

_A raindrop fell on his face. It was cold, but not as cold as the eyes of the man who now stood directly in front of him. Another fell on his uncle's face as the lightning lit up the clearing they stood in. For a moment, it looked like a tear, but then his uncle smiled and the spell was broken. _

"_Come on Spencer… It's time to take your place in history"_

_His uncle grabbed his arms and pulled him close. Reid lifted a knee and jammed it into his uncle's groin. The man fell with a scream to the floor of the forest and Reid began to run through the trees as the rain fell and the thunder boomed. _

_---_

Reid watched the monitor that Calloway had set up in his room. Austin was walking up and down in her room and crying. Calloway had turned up the sound and he could hear her.

He waited and waited, but no one came to her room to take her away from this place. _Did you really think they'd let her go._

No, he didn't think they'd let her go. He smiled through the rage that was building up in his chest. By now, Garcia was tracing the IP address to Lynch. No matter what precautions the computer tech had taken, Garcia would find a way around it now that she had a place to start.

_But will they believe it when their trace brings them right back to Quantico?_


	25. Chapter 25

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_Branches hit his face as he ran through the rain. The ground was damp, so his shoes were quiet till they found leaves to crunch. Wind had picked up and blew over him like the blast chill from a freezer. He shivered, and wished for a jacket to pull around his skinny body. _

_"Spencer… Get your ass back here!"_

_Oh God… He began to breathe in and out as though someone had given him five cups of espresso in a row. _

_Uncle Mike had recovered much faster than Reid had anticipated. Wasn't a knee to the groin supposed to put a man down for awhile? Hadn't he kicked him hard enough?_

_He looked back over his shoulder when the lightning flashed around him. He couldn't see anything through all the rain and the splatters on his glasses. His foot slipped and he tripped, falling backwards to his backside with a thud that snapped his teeth together. The blood from his bitten tongue made him gag. He spit it out with grunt of disgust. _

_There was a crunch behind him and he leapt to his feet. He whirled around and tried again to see out of his glasses that were drenched with raindrops. He decided to stay very still and wait. The wind and the rain falling in torrents gave him cover, but it also gave cover to the person that might be following him. _

**_He's following you while you run in terror. Don't call him a person. He's your uncle and he wants to kill you for no other reason than to see what you look like on the inside. _**

_Chills were wracking his body and still he stood there trying to see into the darkness. He should have tried to grab the flashlight. _

_"I know you're just standing there Spencer. I know everything you're thinking." _

_The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Reid jerked up his head like a deer scenting the air around him. Another crack of thunder made him jump. He almost fell in the mud that was beginning to form under his feet._

**_Don't stand there like a deer in the headlights. Run you idiot!_**

_So he ran, branches stung his face and after several minutes, his glasses were pushed off his face. He stopped in his tracks and tried to find the glasses. _

**_NO! Just go!_**

_"I can't see," He said out loud and someone laughed. _

_"You'll never get out of these woods alive." _

_The darkness and the rain had his heart pounding. It was tripping faster in his chest than running alone would cause. His chest hurt and he could hardly breathe._

_"I can hear everything you do. You're like a rabbit being chased by a wolf."_

_Reid ran and made it a few yards before his shoes slipped and he fell forward onto his hands. Mud flew up into his face and into his mouth. The jarring impact to his arms vibrated up his body all the way to the top of his head. His teeth snapped together again and he screamed at the pain in his knees._

_"Ready to give up yet, Spencer?"_

_It sounded like his uncle's taunting voice came from above him. He didn't dare turn to look. His uncle was following him and taunting him. Was he going to be killed in this rain and mud? Would he just be practice for a burgeoning serial killer, or would this be part of the signature that would confuse and baffle law enforcement. _

**_If I get out of here, I'm going to chase down anyone that hurts the innocent. I swear it. _**

_The first person he had to outsmart was his uncle. He'd stand up and he'd face him instead of running. He'd show his father's brother that he wasn't afraid. _

_"Come out and get me!'' He shouted into the rain that had soaked his clothing and his skin. _

_"Well, have you decided to stop running? Good for you Spencer… You're a better man than your father."_

_Michael Reid stepped out of the darkness. "Well, let's get to it shall we." _

"NO! Leave me alone! Morgan, help me please. Hotch!! Where are you?"

He screamed himself awake at the same time someone opened the door. Calloway entered the room. Didn't this man ever sleep? How long had he been here anyway? The days were all running together now.

"Go away!"

"Oh, you're very irritable for a man that is running out of options fast."

"I said… Get. Out. Of. Here!!"

"Don't shout at me Dr. Reid. I'm only here to thank you for naming the man that almost killed you ten years ago. It's only a matter of time before we bring in your uncle. We'll be heading out to California very soon."

"I'm happy for you."

"The sarcasm isn't appreciated."

"The headache and the pain in my knees, and my shoulder are killing me. Excuse me if I'm not chipper."

Reid got out of his bed. His dark blue tee shirt and white boxers made him look more than ever like a college kid. He tried not to limp to the couch. He gritted his teeth against the pain and walked past his captor to the couch.

"Since you've done what I asked you to do, I'm going to give you a prize."

Reid looked at the wall instead of Calloway. His eyes wanted to go to the computer screen to see if Austin was okay, but he flicked them away.

_Don't give him the satisfaction._

"I don't want whatever you've got."

"Oh, I think you'll want this."

"Spencer…"

Her voice made his head whip around in surprise. "Austin…"

She was standing in the doorway with Stark holding her arms. "You told me you were going to let her _go!" _

"I changed my mind. Why don't I leave you two alone?"

"_No_, let her go!" He watched helplessly as Stark shoved her into the room. "Please just let her _go_!"

"I don't think so. She's here to stay. Just enjoy it Dr. Reid. You might like spending time alone with a beautiful woman in your room."

"Do you want me to beg? Is that it?"

"I don't want you to beg. Now, just enjoy having her here. It's after midnight. You should both get some sleep."

He left the room, ignoring Reid's pleas and Austin's crying. After the door locked behind their captors, Austin ran to the couch and threw herself into Reid's arms.

He cried out in pain when her body hit the places on his body that ached. "I'm so sorry Spencer." She pulled away from him.

"Don't," He pulled her back.

She was wearing a pair of pink flowered pajama bottoms and a white tank. Her hair was mussed as though they pulled her out of bed. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Did they hurt you?"

"No… I was coming to see you. Someone was at my apartment. They must have hit me or something. I woke up with a headache and I was here with my suitcase. My phone was gone and I couldn't get out of the room. Who are they Spencer?"

"Calloway is a profiler like me. He's trying to force me to solve cases for him."

"Why!"

"I don't know yet. I'm working on it."

"Why did they bring me here?" She was beginning to cry again.

_I don't know what to do with a crying girl._

"They're punishing me for trying to escape."

She hugged him tighter and he tried not to wince at the pain in his shoulder and his ribs. "You tried to get away?"

"Yeah, I did. I wanted to see you so badly. I thought you'd give up on me."

"No!" She pulled away from him. The pain lessened, but he missed the softness of her skin and the way she smelled like flowers. "I'd never give up on you."

"I'm sorry they scared you again. I never wanted you to suffer because of me. I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again."

He untangled from her and limped over to his bed. She had tears running down her face when he was able to meet her eyes again. "I'm so sorry!"

"You don't have to be sorry. This isn't your fault. I don't understand what is going on, but I don't care."

"How could you not care? You're here because of me. If anything… Um, if anything happened to you… I couldn't stand it."

She stood up slowly and came over to where he sat. There was something in her eyes that he didn't recognize. Her weight on the bed and her smell of roses made the hair stand up on the back of his arms. She moved closer to him and the heat from her body made his hands shake.

"Austin… Um… You should sleep here. I mean… I'll just go over to the couch."

"No… I'm scared! Please don't leave me here."

"I can't! We really don't know each other at all and _"

She put a hand on his arm and restrained him more effectively than handcuffs or ropes. "I don't have to know you. Don't you feel it? There is something between us that was there from the first moment we laid eyes on each other."

"Yes…" He breathed. "But they're watching us and listening to us."

"I don't care."

"I do care. Please just sleep here and I'll take the couch."

"Don't leave me alone… I need you. Please just stay here. I promise nothing will happen."

He lay down next to her because there was nothing else to do. She tried to hug him and he groaned again."

"They hurt you!"

"It's nothing… I'm okay." He reached out and shut off the lamp next to the bed. "I really am okay."

She put her head on his chest and he put his arms around her. For the first time since the night Stark had brought him to this place, he felt peace.

"Spencer…"

"What?"

"Are they going to let us go?"

"No!"

"Then I'm glad I told Garcia about your last phone call."

Hope filled his chest and pushed away the pain that seemed to permeate every part of his body. The darkness didn't scare him the way it had for so many days.

"You called her?"

"Of course I did. She told me that she'd call me back when the team found you. I waited for days and then someone brought me here."

"I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing to me. I'd rather be here with you than waiting to hear if you're going to be okay. I didn't want you to die."

She was crying again. He wanted to kiss her, but he was so scared. This wasn't the time to be thinking about kissing her.

"Spencer?"

"I think we should go to sleep. The team is going to find us. We just have to wait them out." He whispered in her ear.

"Good night Spencer."

"Good night Austin."

But he didn't go to sleep. Even after he was sure Austin was asleep, he couldn't make his eyes close. He had to be strong for her, but what if the team couldn't find them?

_They will… Hotch won't let them give up._

The darkness, and the knowledge that Calloway was watching him, made home and freedom seem like it was another lifetime away.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n Hey all, here's the next chapter. Thanks for all your kind reviews and the suggestions some of you have made about this story. Let's see what will happen to Reid next, shall we? **_

"Hey Baby-Girl… Did you find anything yet?"

"NO!"

"_Whoa_, I'm just asking Garcia."

She pulled off her glasses and rubbed at her burning eyes. "I'm sorry Derek… I'm just so frustrated. This guy's bouncing the signal I'm tracking all around the entire planet. It's like tracking Randall Gardner and Tobias Henkel together. It's like something I would do."

"Then approach the problem like you're chasing you."

"That doesn't make any sense."

He leaned back against her desk with his arms folded over his chest. "Yes it does… What would you do if you were trying to send something by email to someone and you didn't want it tracked back to you?"

"Well I could use this little honey of program I've been working on. You see you have to mask the signal and then -"

He reached over and put a hand over her mouth. "I don't need the details. Just think about it. You're big into the hacking world. I'm sure you know someone out there that could help you, or someone that might be involved. He's paying someone to help. We know he's not alone in this."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Reid's apartment was wiped clean. It was practically emptied out without anyone noticing. That takes some serious skills and more than one person."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, the fact that the CSIs didn't find anything for us to work with is very disturbing."

"It's also very smart."

"That's true mama."

He watched her tap her pen on the desk. Her other hand was continuously running through her hair, pulling at the pink streaked curls that fell down her back.

"Penelope!"

"Yeah."

"Talk to me!"

"I'm scared!"

"Why?"

"Because something isn't _right_."

"What's wrong?" He crouched down beside her and put a hand on her arm. "You can tell me anything mama."

"Did you know that when someone hacks into a system, they have their own unique way of working their way in? You can tell by the way they write code, who they are. It's almost like a fingerprint. When I dropped out of Caltech and went underground, I met some of the most amazing hackers in the world."

She was looking at him, but her eyes were far away as though memories that hurt, and that held happiness, were overwhelming her at the same time.

"I eventually got my act together and rejoined the world. It was about that time that the FBI came knocking, literally."

He felt a grin spreading over his face. _What I wouldn't give to have been a fly on that wall!_

"The upshot was that they offered me a job. I guess they wanted to keep an eye on me."

"I'm glad they did."

"It was hard at first. They expected me to track other hackers."

"I'll bet that didn't go over well with your friends."

"No, but I realized that some of my friends were doing damage, rather than just hacking in out of curiosity, or seeing how far they could go before they got the same visit that I did. I didn't like what they were doing and so I helped the FBI."

"So you're telling me you recognize who's putting roadblocks in your way."

"Yeah, I think I do."

He squeezed her hand tightly. "Can you tell me?"

"No… I have to be sure. Please just let me do more checking. When I'm sure, you'll be the first to know."

"Are you sure?"

"I have to be careful Morgan. I'm not deliberately shutting you out. I want to be sure before we proceed."

"Okay baby-girl." He got up and turned for the door.

Garcia grabbed his hand to stop him. He turned around, "Thank you for being my friend."

"Penelope, what's wrong?"

"I'm okay… Can you ask everyone to stay away for a couple of hours?"

"Sure."

He left and she began to cry.

---

Morgan was shutting Garcia's door behind him and wondering why she looked like someone was ripping her heart out, when a voice said, "Hello Agent Morgan."

It was Lynch, standing there holding two cups of coffee and smiling at Morgan like he knew a joke the older man hadn't heard, but wouldn't get if he did.

"Lynch… She's busy right now."

"I know, I just thought I'd bring her a cup of coffee."

"I said she's busy. I know Hotch told you not to bother her when she's busy so back off."

Kevin's eyes narrowed at Morgan. "I'm just going to give her the coffee and then I'll be on my way."

"I'll give it to her." He held out his hand. "That way, you can get back to looking for Reid. You are supposed to be helping Calloway to find him, aren't you?"

"Of course, I have my system working on it right now. There's not a lot to go on so maybe you should tell your boss that -"

"Don't say it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't say that finding Reid may be impossible with what you have to go on."

Something flickered down in Lynch's eyes that Morgan saw before they went blank again. Kevin smiled, but it didn't touch the rest of his face or his eyes. "I'm not saying that… I'm just saying that it's going to take some time to unravel."

"Please just leave Garcia alone for awhile."

"I'll go away if I hear it from her."

"She told me to keep everyone away from her office." Morgan was in Lynch's face now, invading the man's personal space. "That means me, and you, and anyone else I see hanging around out here. Is that clear!"

"Yeah… no problem."

He watched Lynch head off down the hallway. There was something not right about Lynch and this little confrontation had confirmed it.

--

Reid woke up to pain in his head, both knees, and his shoulder. There was pressure on his ribs, but not from the injuries. Someone was lying on his chest. He tried to move and stretch, but the person clung to him like a life raft.

He'd slept without nightmares since Austin had been forced into his room. He'd intended to slip out of bed and sleep on the couch after she fell asleep, but he'd fallen asleep waiting for her to relax. So the discomfort he'd hoped to avoid by sleeping on the couch gripped him like handcuffs around his wrists.

She was soft, and warm, and she smelled so good. His body was beginning to respond to her closeness now that his conscious mind was awake. The same intimacy of contact that had driven away his dreams was now forcing needs to the surface he'd thought buried beneath his desire to get out of this predicament alive.

Austin twisted and whimpered in her sleep. One of her hands moved and came to rest on the elastic band of the boxers he wore. The other hand cupped his neck, her fingernails scraping over the flesh till she relaxed and went still.

Calloway couldn't have come up with a worse torture if he'd thought about it for years. The Dilaudid was nothing compared to what his body was going to make him do if he didn't get away from her now.

Sliding out from under her was hard in many ways, but he made it without waking her up. He left the light out as he was familiar with the set up of the rooms. A very cold shower was the first order of business and then it was time to formulate another escape plan.

---

Austin woke up to pitch black darkness, her heart pounding hard at the unfamiliar feel of the place. Where was she? What had happened? She turned over on her back and closed her eyes.

_Take a deep breath._

It was just so dark! Okay, let's find the light. She sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. She reached out, waving her hands around till they encountered something in her path. Exploring the smooth metal netted her a lamp. She switched it on and blinked in the light. She was alone! Why was she alone? Where was Spencer?

The door to the bathroom suddenly opened and he walk out in a cloud of steam with jeans, bare feet, and a tee shirt. He looked so much different from the last time she saw him, but also very sexy too.

"Oh, hello… I didn't wake you did I."

"No, I just woke up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"You're limping."

"A little, but I feel much better then I did last night."

She got up off the bed and went over to him. She was kissing him hard on the mouth before he could say anything. He responded eagerly, so she opened the buttons on his jeans when he pushed her down on the bed.

"Wait," he pulled back from her, took off his tee shirt and laid over her. "Can't do this," He whispered.

"What…" She stopped trying to take off his jeans.

"Kiss my neck!"

"But…"

"Just do it."

She kissed him and he struggled to keep his brain from turning to mush while he began whispering in her ear. She nodded and he clambered off her. She got up grabbed him and kissed him hungrily. They stumbled to the bathroom. His jeans were on the ground when he opened the door and pushed her inside. The door slammed behind them, cutting them off from prying eyes.

---

Garcia left her office and almost ran down the hall to Hotch's door. Then she stopped and stared at it till Morgan came up from the bullpen and put his hands on her shoulders. She jumped and gave out a little squeaking scream that had him more freaked out than anything else he'd been able to learn since they'd returned from Vermont.

"Whoa baby-girl… What's wrong?"

"Can you get Hotch? I need to talk to you all in the conference room."

Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. "Penelope…"

"Please just get everyone in there." She turned on her zebra stripped heels and fled from him.

Five minutes later everyone was in the room. "Garcia... Have you found something?"

"I know who's been road blocking me."


	27. Chapter 27

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n once again, thanks to all my loyal readers. I appreciate all of your sincere feedback.**_

The door slammed shut behind Reid, but he didn't hear it over the roar of blood in his ears. All attempts of his brain to stay logical, to push his body's needs to the background, where drowned out by the taste of her lips.

She smelled so good. Her hair was like silk under his fingers. Her lips were burning his and the proximity of her body made his skin tingle like there were pins and needles poking him all over.

"Spencer…" She pulled away from his questing lips.

"What?"

He tired to pull her back into his arms and kiss her, but she resisted, turning her head away. His mouth found the edge of her jaw and she groaned. "Spencer…" She pushed him away again.

"Austin…" Is that a whine in your voice? He pulled her back for another kiss.

"Remember what you just whispered in my ear?" She had pulled out of her arms and backed away till the back of her legs hit the edge of the tub.

"What?"

She was so beautiful with her sleep mussed hair and her lips swollen from kissing him. He couldn't think straight with her eyes bright and her chest heaving.

_Was there something he was supposed to remember?_

"The part about your plan to escape," She prompted him with a grin.

"Oh…" That got through the fog in his brain. "Right, um, sorry, I got a bit carried away."

"I'll say," but she didn't look mad at him. Instead, she had that look that he'd felt on his own face when he had to act responsible even when he didn't want to.

"I really like you!" He blurted out, and felt his face go red. "Um… I didn't want - well, I didn't want our first kiss to be here in front of camera's and people that want to control us."

_Why are you talking about this now?_

"It's okay!"

"No it's not! I wanted to spend time with you finding out all your secrets. I wanted to know what makes you happy and what makes you laugh. I wanted to know if you cry at old movies or if you like chocolate. You know all the important things!"

"I can't tell you everything. A woman must maintain a little mystery about her."

"Really, where is that written?"

"It's in the handbook they give girls when we turn thirteen."

"There's a _handbook?" _Reid squeaked.

"Of course there's a handbook. How else do you think we learn how to handle men?"

Reid stepped back close to her and put his arms around her waist. "Is that what you're doing, handling me."

"Yep…"

"I can live with that!"

He kissed her on the tip of her nose and she laughed. But the laugh was perilously close to a sob, he could see. Tears we're close to the surface, but she was holding them back for him. His stomach twisted under the weight of that responsibility. Morgan should be the one trapped down here with a beautiful woman.

"Spencer?" She reached for a bit of toilet paper and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. I do that a lot."

She didn't believe him. It was in her eyes, so he said, "We're going to get out of here and when we do Calloway will get what's coming to him."

"How are we going to get out of here?"

_This idea ought to go over really well genius!_

"Well, first of all, we need to stay in here long enough for them to think that we… well that we, um well…"

"Long enough to make them thing we're having a really good time," She laughed at his red face.

"Yeah - a really good time, then we're going to…"

---

"How are the lovebirds?" Stark came into the computer room with a cup of coffee in his hands.

The room was empty, but for the computer tech. Lynch was studying the screen like it might jump off the desk and run away. His mouth was hanging open and his glasses looked a bit fogged when he started at the sound of Stark's voice.

"Um… They went into the bathroom together. See the jeans and shirt on the floor." He pointed them out with his finger. "I think Reid already took one shower this morning and they were really going at it before they went behind closed doors."

One of Stark's eyebrows went into his blond hair. He took a sip from his coffee. "Really? Are you sure they're not plotting? I told Calloway we should have put cameras and microphones in there too."

Kevin chuckled derisively. "I wish he had. I'd love to see more of Dr. Reid's moves."

"Are you kidding me? That scarecrow doesn't know the first thing about women."

"You weren't here. She was all over him."

"Obviously the girl's hard up, which I don't understand. She's hot."

"She's too skinny for my taste."

"I like 'em skinny. In fact, if Dr. Reid gets anymore ideas about trying to escape, I'll show her what she's missing and make him watch. He might learn something." Stark threw his head back and laughed like a braying horse.

"That's disgusting."

"What's the matter Lynch? Your girlfriend doesn't have to know about it."

"I don't rape women."

"Don't get self-righteous with me. You're in this as deep as any of us. You might as well enjoy it. I'll bet she could squeeze you like a ripe orange. Wouldn't you like to pop like warm champagne with those legs wrapped around you?"

"No!"

"Yes you would."

"I told you that I don't need her. I have Penny and she's more than enough woman for me."

"If you like a fat ass!"

"Shut up Stark!"

"You don't scare me little man." He shoved Kevin back down in his chair. "Don't ever talk like that to me again."

"You'll never get the chance with her, Stark." Kevin put the focus back on Austin while his hands stopped shaking.

"Perhaps not, but it doesn't hurt to fantasize."

"Shut up!"

"What else is going on?" Stark changed the subject again while he sneered at Lynch.

"My princess is still trying to figure out why she can't find anything on Reid."

"You're sure she won't figure out your involvement."

"_No_, the program I designed will only let her see what I want her to see. Don't worry about it."

Stark took the chair next to Kevin's desk. "I get paid by our boss to worry."

"I'm telling you that Hotchner and the team are chasing their tails."

"You better be sure for your sake."

"There's nothing to worry about!" Kevin picked up his messenger bag and the cup of warm coffee he'd been sipping. "I have to get upstairs and put in an appearance."

"Fine by me! Make sure you keep an eye on that girlfriend of yours."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Stark laughed as Kevin left the computer room. Maybe he should go down to Reid's room and get better acquainted with Reid's girl. Calloway wouldn't mind if he took part of his payment from her. And it would be fun to watch Reid's reaction.

He was about to get up from the chair when he heard Reid calling out over the monitor. He turned around and saw Reid standing there looking up at the camera.

"I'm done playing games. Get down here now and I promise I'll tell you everything I know about Michael Reid. You'll have enough evidence to put him away forever."

"Too late Dr. Reid, but maybe I'll pay you and your girl a visit anyway."

---

"It's my fault. I have to resign."

"Baby-girl…"

"I won't accept your resignation Penelope. You're too important to this team. We need you to help us find Reid!" Hotch pushed her ID badge back towards her.

"But, everything that's happened is my fault."

"Garcia, we can't afford to lose you." Hotch insisted with a rare and kind smile.

Garcia was crying so hard that Morgan reached over and hugged her gently. "It's okay. Just tell us what happened.

Emily, Rossi and Hotch watched Morgan hold his baby girl and stroke her back till her sobs tapered off to little hitches of breath. Emily gave her a smile and a handkerchief for her nose and eyes.

"I'm sorry everyone."

"It's okay Garcia… Can you tell us what happened?"

"I figured out who is behind all of this."

"You did!"

"Yeah… It's Kevin."

"What?!" Morgan surged to his feet. "Where is he? I'm going to rip his head off."

"Morgan! Sit. Down. _Now_!"

"No Hotch, I want his sniveling little head on a platter."

Garcia gave a strangled sob and he immediately returned to her side. "I'm sorry sweetness."

"I'm okay." She pushed him away and began to talk. "We can't just go after Kevin. This is so much bigger then him.

"What did you find Garcia?"

"You know how someone was looking into Reid's files. They concentrated on his uncle, Michael Reid. His uncle was a professor at Caltech when Reid was there. I got a hold of the case file that's connected to him. A young man was found stabbed to death after being tortured for days. When another body turned up six months later, he was pulled in to be questioned. The cops didn't find anything, but there's some thing really weird. All of the victims and the eight others that have been found in the last ten years all look like Reid. They're all geniuses too."

Garcia was twisting her fingers in her skirt and Hotch said. "What do you know?"

"Reid was in the hospital when he was seventeen. He came in with marks of a beating and restraint. He also had a pretty serious head wound. He was unable to tell the doctors who'd hurt him. They told him that he might not ever remember."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Hotch?"

"Yeah, that Reid could have been his first victim and some how he got away."

"Why didn't he tell us?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know."

"Do you know who has this case now?" Hotch directed his question to Garcia.

"Yeah, it's Agent Calloway's team. They just picked up Michael Reid."

"Son of a bitch!" Morgan had surged to his feet.

"Sit down Morgan!"

"Hotch!"

"We can't go off half cocked. We have to think this _through_."

"Um sir…" Garcia looked like she'd swallowed a spider. "It's not just Calloway that may be involved. Someone else is protecting him."

"Who is it Garcia."

"Section Chief Strauss."


	28. Chapter 28

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

"Are you absolutely sure Garcia?"

"Yeah… I followed Kevin's program back into his system. He has a bunch of encrypted files that he doesn't know are on his drive."

"How could he not know they're there?"

"Because they're hiding behind legitimate files that he needs to do his job. I can give you a lot of technical jargon and details about how I broke into the files, but I assume you don't need the details."

"Alright, we need to meet somewhere we can talk without prying eyes. Everyone gather up your notes and files. Garcia, is everything backed up on your lap top?"

"Yes sir."

"Go get it now."

---

Rossi opened the door to his house and turned off the alarm. Garcia followed him into the entryway and down the hall to his office. She gawked at the publicity posters for his books that hung on the walls. The floors were hardwood and were polished to a mirror shine.

He opened a door at the end of the hallway and gestured to her. "You can set up in there. You can use my desktop if you need it. I assume you can set up a secure line between Quantico and here?"

"No problem."

"I'm going to let the others in."

She set up her computer and had his desktop connected by the time, Hotch, Emily and Morgan came in. Rossi got chairs from the rest of the house and they began to brainstorm.

"Okay, what do we know about Lynch."

"He's brilliant, a narcissist, and he's a hacker on the level with Garcia."

"There's no one like my baby-girl."

"Thanks Hot Stuff."

"He's arrogant enough to believe that he's hidden all his activities from prying eyes. He thinks that helping Strauss will elevate his status in the FBI."

"No, that's not what this is about."

"What do you mean sweetness?"

"He's doing all of this for me. He talks all the time about leaving the BAU and starting over. He wants to start his own computer game business. He asked me to marry him a couple of weeks ago. I said no, but he keeps pushing the issue. I should have told him to get lost a long time ago."

"This isn't your fault."

"Yes it is Morgan. I swore after Gardner shot Elle, that I'd never let anyone hurt you guys again."

"You can't protect us from everyone."

"We need to stop this." Hotch interrupted. "The only people at fault here are Lynch, Calloway, and Strauss."

"She's after you." Rossi said.

"Yes, I was stupid to think that she'd give up so easily on getting rid of me. She's been planning this for nearly two years."

"What did you do to Calloway?" Emily wondered.

"I head the most successful team in the BAU. He's wanted my head since I hired Reid. He drove Gideon nuts before that. He's egotistical and arrogant. What I can't understand is how he slipped through the cracks."

"What do you mean sir?" Penelope asked as her fingers flew once more over their most familiar territory.

"Every agent of the bureau goes through personality testing. The requirements are the most rigorous for profilers because of the pressures we have to deal with everyday."

"He's much more intelligent than anyone anticipated." Rossi said.

"Who cares how smart he is. We need to pick him up and make him tell us where Reid is." Morgan was pacing impatiently.

"We can't go marching in there and arrest him. If Strauss is behind all of this, she's going to be ready for this eventuality. We need to go after the one person that's expendable for her."

The room went silent except for Garcia typing on her keyboard. After a couple of minutes she stopped and looked around.

"What's going on?" She looked very perplexed.

"Baby-girl… We need you to do something for us."

"What," Her eyes got big at the tone in Morgan's voice."

"It's sort of like undercover work." Emily said, but she wasn't smiling.

"Um… Okay… What do I have to do?"

"We need you to call Lynch. He'll drop everything for you."

"I don't want to see, or talk, to that rat bastard ever again." Tears welled up in her red eyes.

"Garcia," Morgan crouched next to her chair. "I can't begin to imagine how hurt you must be. You know I'd never ask this of you if we didn't need to talk to Lynch. We need to get him off the grounds of Quantico for now."

He took both of her hands into his. She tried to smile for him. Normally it was easy, but at that moment only tears would come. He looked at her with so much faith and something else down deep in his eyes that she'd have been seeing for months if she'd taken the time to notice.

"Alright Derek, I'll do it."

---

Reid stood in the middle of the room, dressed in his favorite pair of dark grey cords, a white dress shirt, and red and black sweater vest and tie. He was pulling on his converse shoes over mismatched socks minutes before Stark opened the door. The large agent came into the room with a confident swagger that reminded Reid of all the bullying football players he'd ever known from school.

"I was expecting Calloway."

"Sorry to disappoint you Dr. Reid. He's already in California with your uncle. I just got a call from him telling me their having a most difficult time getting him to talk. " Stark strolled into the center of the room. His gun was holstered at his side as though he thought he wouldn't need it.

"Oh I'm not disappointed." Reid ignored the information about his uncle even though it tied his stomach into greasy knots. "You're a welcome change from his paranoia and delusions of grandeur."

"You're sounding a lot less stressed this morning. Tell me Dr. Reid, did your beautiful companion help you 'relax'?" The taller man rocked back and forth on his heels with his hands in his pockets.

"It's good when I'm not disappointed by human male behavior. I knew one of you would come down here because of what you saw on your monitor."

"You're right Dr. Reid. I have to say I'm very impressed."

"Why?"

"Because you're a socially awkward genius, that looks like a strong wind would knock you over."

"Not every woman likes men that are pumped up sides of beef!"

"True, only the smart ones do."

Reid began to chuckle. Stark laughed with him as though they were best friends sharing the funniest joke in the world.

"So how did you do it?"

"How did I do what?"

"How did you get a beautiful woman to spend an hour with you in that bathroom? I'm fairly sure you two weren't mopping the floors."

"Why don't you ask her? She's right behind you."

Stark grinned at him like a he was humoring a very small child. "I'm not stupid. I turn my back and you attack. We all learned something from you little escape at-"

Stark staggered forward when Austin slammed the laptop Calloway had set up for Reid to watch her, across the back of his neck. The momentum pushed him forward to Reid, who pivoted to one side and pushed the large man into the heavy glass coffee table. The density of the glass was strong enough not to break, but it did crack under the big man's weight. The crack of Stark's skull against the table was as loud as a small caliber gunshot. He rolled off the table to the floor. Reid automatically stepped forward to take stock of his injuries. He could see that the big man bled heavily onto the dark blue carpet from the cut on his head.

Austin darted forward and kicked him twice in the ribs before Reid could pull her back. He pushed her away and fell to his knees next to the unconscious man. He quickly removed Stark gun and handed it to Austin who held it like she was familiar with guns. Reid took the man's keys and his cell phone.

"Hurry, we need to get out of here before someone sees what we're doing."

She picked up his messenger bag and ran out the door. He followed her, locking Stark into his prison.

"Which way do we go?"

"Follow me!"

He took the gun from her and tucked it into his jeans. She grabbed his hand and they ran down the hallway. The overwhelming sense of déjà vu almost made him stop in his tracks._ If they went that way again and Calloway was prepared…_

He stopped and Austin hissed at him. "Come on…"

"I'm not sure we should go this way."

"You said you almost escaped. You know how to get out of here. Please Spencer… I need to get out of this place." She begged him desperately.

_If you go that way there could be guards this time._

His head whipped from side to side as though he were sitting in a particularly fast paced tennis match. Austin was tugging on his hand, but his head kept telling him to go the other way.

_You're panicking! _

"Spencer!"

"Okay, let's go the same way."

They ran down hallways, as Reid followed the map in his head to the elevators. They came to one intersection and Reid said. "It's just around this corner and another left."

They rounded the next corner and Reid skidded to a halt. Austin gave out a little scream and tried to tug out of Reid's hand to run back the way they came.

"Hello Dr Reid." Ramirez said.

Reid reached for the gun at his side, but the other agent was quicker. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

_I knew we shouldn't have come this way._

"Spencer…" Austin has pressed up against him. She was trembling like a birch tree in the wind.

"Ramirez, Let us go and I'll put in a good word for you with Internal Affairs."

Ramirez's face was as blank as Hotch's could get when dealing with a difficult situation. He wore an eye patch over one eye, but otherwise he looked healthy enough to deal with the two of them.

Reid's jaw dropped when Ramirez suddenly lowered his gun and then holstered it. "I don't want to hurt either of you."

Reid took out his gun and trained it on the other agent. "What kind of game are you playing?"

"I don't have time to explain… Please follow me and I'll get you out of here."

"I'm not following you anywhere." He hugged Austin tightly to his side. "Stand aside and let us pass."

"If you go that way, the guards outside the door will bring you back."

"I don't believe you."

_What if he's telling the truth?_

"Calloway will kill you both if you stay. Stark will kill you now if he's down here and we run into him."

"He's locked in the room you kept me in. He's knocked out on the floor. "

"We still need to get out of here. If he wakes up, he'll kick the door down. I can explain everything if you'll follow me to another exit."

Reid looked down at Austin and she nodded. They had to trust him. There was no choice. _I don't want to have to kill him!_

They followed Ramirez through the maze of hallways, left, right, right, left right, left then a very long straight stretch that seemed to go on forever. It was enough to make anyone disoriented. Anyone but Reid, that is, he remembered them all in case they had to run. Soon they came to another elevator.

Ramirez pressed the call button. "Why are you helping us?"

"I'll explain when we get to where we're going."

The elevator car doors opened. Ramirez went first and Reid followed with the gun trained on the other agent. "Press the fifteenth floor."

Reid pressed the button and the elevator began to rise. He waited for the other man to speak but he was silent on the trip.

The doors opened onto a silent hallway. The insignia on the doors to the right and left made him hurry out of the elevator. "Slow down." Ramirez hissed. "There's more to this than you think."

Reid stopped and let Austin and Ramirez catch up with him. "Where are we?" She inquired of Reid.

"This is Quantico! We're on the floor they used to use to house people transitioning to the Witness Protection Program.

"Very good Dr. Reid. It's been closed for renovation into class rooms. There are several rooms that are still apartments. We need to get inside one now."

He led them straight down the hallway and into the last door on the right. He locked it behind them. "Now let's talk Dr. Reid."


	29. Chapter 29

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Kevin shut down his desktop system and picked up the fresh cup of coffee he'd grabbed from the break room. He was just about to the door of his office when his phone beeped. He grinned at the caller ID.

"Hey princess, what's up?" He said cheerfully.

"_I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere outside of the office?"_

"What's wrong baby. You sound very stressed."

"_Of course I'm __**stressed**__. My best friend is missing! There's no evidence to find him. How do you expect me to feel?"_

"You don't have to shout!"

"_I'm sorry. I'm just upset. That's why I need to see you. You always know how to help me relax." _

A large lecherous grin spread over his face. "Why Penelope Garcia… Are you asking me for a lunch quickie?"

"_Yeah, you got a problem with that."_ A flirtatious tone had crept into her voice.

"No, you know I'm always 'up,' for fun no matter the time of day. It'll have to be very quick though. I have someplace I need to be."

"_Not too quick!"_

He laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

"_Meet me at 1272 Oak Street."_

"Why there," He wondered.

"_I'm house-sitting for a friend. She's on vacation for the next week and needs someone there at night for appearances sake. There's a California King in the master bedroom with a gel mattress." _

"You know what I like baby."

"_Of course I do. That's why we're perfect for each other." _

"You make me hungry woman. I'll see you in half an hour!"

"_I can't wait my prince." _

---

"I'm sorry you had to do that Baby-girl."

"I want to take a really long and hot shower."

She put the phone into her bag with a shaking hand. "I know… I promise you Penelope, he won't walk out of here."

"Don't _hurt_ him!"

He reared back in surprise at the vehemence in her voice. "Why are you defending him? He's a scumbag. He used you for over a year to get to Reid. I'm going to _kick_ his sorry ass!"

Garcia reached out and touched his cheek. "I love you for defending me. But, if you hurt him, you could jeopardize finding Reid or getting Calloway and his cohorts sent to jail."

Morgan ducked his head, "He may not go to jail. Hotch is talking about offering the bastard immunity in return for telling us where Reid is."

"He can't do that!" Her face went from cottage cheese white to blotchy red. "I don't ever want to see him again. He deserves jail for what he's done."

Morgan drew her into his arms. "I'll do my best to get him to talk without a deal."

"If you have to hurt him to get him to talk, then do it!"

"I'll do whatever I have to do baby-girl."

"Morgan?"

"What is it mama?"

"I'm sorry for all of this."

"It's not your fault." He let go of her and put his hand under her chin. "This is Kevin's fault, and Calloway and his merry band of idiots. It's not your fault."

"I was stupid. I believed him when he said that he loved me."

_Because_ _you didn't believe me when I said I loved you. Not that I blame you. _Guilt overwhelmed him and he pulled her back into his arms. He hugged her so tightly that she began to squirm.

"I can't breathe Derek."

He whispered in her ear. "I meant what I said Penelope. I love you. You're my God given solace."

Then he dropped his arm and walked out of the room, leaving her to her thoughts and a racing heart that wouldn't stop pounding.

---

"Alright Ramirez, what have you got to say."

Reid and Austin were huddled together in a large armchair. The living room was about the same size as his apartment, but the furniture was a lot uglier. It was red vinyl and the coffee table was chipped wood. Ramirez kept his gun holstered, but Reid kept his on the coffee table within easy reach. Ramirez stayed next to the door as though he was ready to bolt at any minute.

"We don't have much time." He repeated his caution from the hallway. He began to pace up and down in front of them.

"Calloway came to me a year ago. There was no choice but to follow him. He told us from the first that Section Chief Strauss was in this up to her eyeballs. He threatened my family and offered to pay me very well if I helped him kidnap you. He's dangerously paranoid and he hates Aaron Hotchner.

"Why?'

"He blames him for taking over your unit. He wanted the position for himself. He thought after what happened in Boston four years ago, that Gideon would be fired and he'd head the team. He's always coveted you for himself. He sees you as the brains of the most successful team in the BAU."

"But I'm not -"

"I know that Dr. Reid. I tried to talk sense to him, but it was useless. He's a raging paranoid that functions well because he can talk the birds out of the trees if he wants to."

"I won't lie to you Dr. Reid, the prospect of money and being able to work with you held a lot of appeal for me. Then I saw what Calloway was willing to do to you and I decided that I had to find someway to help you."

"I don't believe him Spencer!" Austin piped up from their seat. "He's going to keep us here till the big guy comes after us. We have to leave."

Reid tightened his arm around her. "We can't leave. If Section Chief Strauss is behind this, we can't be seen in this building."

"She is behind this. She wants Hotch out of the way. When she failed to break up your team last year, she came to Calloway with this plan."

Reid was nodding his head. One of his hands was stroking Austin's hair and her arm. She was still shaking from delayed nerves. He didn't blame her.

"She's obsessed with Hotch. She continues to see him as a threat to her job. She believes that he's after her position with the bureau. That may have been true four years ago, but I don't think that's true now."

"Even so, Agent Reid, she believes the best way to accomplish her goals is to get rid of you. If something were to happen to you again, she could fire him."

"Why did you decide to help us?'

"I love my family. Calloway has a lot of questionable contacts that he won't hesitate to turn against me. I can let that happen. I don't care anymore what happens to me."

He directed his next words to Austin who was watching him with distrustful eyes. "I know you don't trust me. That's why I'm going to leave the room. I won't lock the door. However, I suggest you stay here. Call Hotch, and get him over here now. He's the only one that can get you out of here safely."

Reid untangled himself from Austin. He followed Ramirez to the door without his gun. "I'm going to trust you because I don't have a choice. If I get Austin out of here safely, I'll put in a good word with Hotch. I can't guarantee that you won't go to jail."

"I told you I don't care what happens to me as long as my family doesn't get hurt."

He left the room. Reid waited several seconds, and then opened the door. Ramirez was gone and better yet, they were alone in an unlocked room.

"Is he gone?" Austin's voice was trembling behind him.

He went back to her and hugged her tight. "He's gone… I'm going to call Hotch.

---

"How do you want to handle this Hotch?"

"I'm going to lock him in a room with Morgan. Is there a room that you don't care if something gets broken?"

Rossi just looked at him with a neutral expression. "Yeah… the basement should do nicely.

He led the way to the kitchen and through a door to the left of the pantry. The light at the top of the stairs revealed nine wooden stairs that led down to a carpeted floor. Hotch followed him down to the basement.

The first room to his right looked like a storage room. The next room was an empty bedroom. Rossi went back to the storage room and grabbed chair. Hotch put it in the center of the room.

"This looks just a little too cliché."

"Whatever works," Rossi said. "Think it will scare the kid."

"Yeah, I think it will."

They were heading back up the stairs when Morgan stepped into the kitchen. "He's here," he said quietly. "What do you want me to do?" He asked Hotch.

"Take him downstairs. I don't care how you get Reid's location. Just do it as fast as you can." Hotch whispered.

They filed out of the kitchen and into the living room where Kevin was in the middle of a kiss with Garcia. It looked like an open mouth, full on, tongue kiss to Morgan. Hotch held him back when he wanted to surge forward and knock him to the ground.

"Excuse us." Hotch said rather loudly.

Morgan wanted to laugh when Kevin leaped away from Garcia like he'd been electrocuted. Garcia backed away from him toward Rossi. Morgan was on him before he could react. He pinned the man's hands behind his back.

"One wrong move you son of a bitch and I will break both your arms."

"Let go of me! Penny, what the hell is going on!?"

"Don't ever call me that again!"

She was standing between Hotch and Rossi. Hotch had a hand on her shoulder and Rossi winked at her. Hotch stepped forward and the icy look he turned on the younger man froze him into place.

"Mr. Lynch… We know what you're doing with Section Chief Strauss. It would be better for you to just cooperate with us now."

"I don't know what you're talking about sir."

"Wrong answer," Morgan jerked on his arms and Kevin yelped.

"Where is Dr. Reid?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Calloway is looking into it. I haven't found anything and -"

"Shut up! We know you're lying!"

"Let go of me!"

"I don't think so. You see, you messed with two of my best friends. Did you think I'd just let you get away with that?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Take him downstairs Morgan. _Show_ him the error of his ways." Rossi said.


	30. Chapter 30

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n here's the one some of you have been waiting for.**_

Morgan pushed Kevin into the basement room. The other man stumbled and fell to the carpeted floor. Morgan hauled him to his feet and pulled him to the chair. Kevin fell into it like a rag doll. His face was red from exertion and his hands were trembling.

"Stay down!" Morgan ordered him.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Did you really think you could keep Penelope from finding out what you're up to?"

Kevin was slumped down in the chair. His glasses had slipped down on his nose, but he didn't dare push them back up on his face. He looked up at Morgan and saw the face of rage.

"I would never do anything to hurt Penny. I love her."

"I'd come up with a better answer if I were you."

Kevin looked around the empty room instead of at Morgan who was circling his chair like a panther on the prowl.

"So, um… what's this supposed to be? Isn't an empty room with a chair in the middle a little spy movie cliché? Where're your rubber hoses and bright lights?"

"You think this is funny?"

"No… I'm just curious."

"This is Rossi's home. The room is soundproofed so no one outside will hear me beating the truth out of you."

Kevin pushed his glasses up on this face with a trembling finger. "You can't hurt me. If you do, I'll cry police brutality."

Morgan laughed and it erected the hair on the back of Kevin's neck. "This is the FBI. You work for us, which means I can do what I want to you and no one will give a damn."

"I want a lawyer. You can't question me without one present. You didn't read me my rights or anything."

"You haven't been arrested. I'm just questioning you about the disappearance of Dr. Spencer Reid. We have reason to believe that you know where he is."

"I don't know where he is. I'm just a computer tech."

"Not the answer I want my friend."

"I don't know what you want to hear."

"Yes you do. You know what I'm looking for."

Kevin looked around the room again, desperately trying to find something to focus on other than the man that kept circling his chair.

Morgan suddenly stepped in and grabbed Kevin by the collar of his shirt. He twisted the back of it so that it began to choke him, "Pay attention Lynch!"

Kevin flailed against the hands and the arms that were too strong for him to throw off. The pressure on his windpipe made taking only the tiniest breaths possible.

"Now, why don't you tell me where I can find my friend?"

Kevin's hand pulled at Morgan's fingers till little gray spots danced in front of his eyes. "I… Don't… Know…"

Morgan let him go and he fell off the chair. He felt himself being hauled back up into the chair. The air rushed back into his lungs and he gasped it in like a lover clasping his beloved to his chest.

"Where is Dr. Reid?"

"I don't know!"

"What did Calloway tell you?" Morgan said, changing tactics. "Did he say that you'd just be able to walk away with a lot of money and Garcia on your arm? Did you really think she'd just walk away from her job and her family for you? Did you think she'd ever stop looking for Reid? If you did, you don't know her at all."

He was back to circling Kevin. Kevin was hunched over the chair like an old man, breathing in and out. Air was the only thing he could think about.

Morgan yanked him upright. "You better be listening to me Lynch."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Morgan reached down and grabbed Kevin by his manhood squeezing and twisting at the same time. The young man went white and all the renewed breath rushed out of his lungs. "You've been letting Garcia lead you around by the balls. I can understand it. She's a beautiful woman that could make any man with a brain crazy. You were just doing what you thought you had to do to get her to follow you anywhere. Well, how does it feel to know that all you worked for is over."

The pain was an enormous living thing that took over everything else. _Was there something he was supposed to do or say? _

"Now, we're going to have a discussion. If you tell me what I want to hear, I might not kill you. If you don't tell me what I want to hear…" He squeezed tighter and Kevin went green and glassy eyed.

"What's the answer going to be? Tick-tock Kevin, tick tock," He wagged the first finger of his free hand in front of the man's face.

Kevin opened his mouth, but no words came out. "What, I can't hear you." Morgan said, putting his head right down in front of Kevin's mouth.

The door opened behind Morgan and Rossi came into the room. Morgan let go of the man and let him slump down in his chair.

"How's it going?"

"It's not going. He refuses to talk."

"Let me have a try."

"Gladly," Morgan stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Rossi turned to Kevin, who'd curled up in his chair. "I'm sorry if he hurt you. We're all stressed and want to find our friend."

"Keep h-him a-away from me." Kevin gasped.

"I will if you'll tell us what you've done. Garcia found the program you planted on her computer. She knows you were trying to prevent her from finding Reid. Why don't you tell us what happened and I'll see what I can do about getting you immunity from charges."

"I was following orders."

"I know, but I need you to tell me who was giving the orders."

"It was Calloway. He said that he'd pay me very well to help him kidnap and keep Dr. Reid. I just wanted to get Penny away from all of this."

"I know the stress of this job can be almost intolerable."

"Yeah, she deserved better than to look at horrible pictures all day and deal with the worst of humanity. This job got her shot and almost killed, for God's sake."

"You're right, some people aren't meant to take on the stress of the job."

"I just wanted to make things better for her."

"You still can. Tell me what happened."

---

Hotch stood in the living room, looking out the window at the green grass that was going yellow and the changing leaves on the trees. It was going to be really cold soon. Did Calloway have Reid somewhere warm? Or was he in a shack, cuffed to a chair like Georgia. He suppressed a shudder that wanted to wrack his body from head to toe.

This was different. This wasn't Georgia. No one was torturing Reid and broadcasting it over the internet. Calloway had different plans for Reid and he wouldn't hurt him.

_How do you know that?_

He wants control of your unit. He's ambitious and paranoid, but he won't do physical harm to Reid. He needs him alive and healthy.

_Do you believe that or are you trying to make yourself feel better?_

His phone vibrated at his side and he almost jumped out of his skin. All of this worry was making him lose his precious control, just like two years ago in Georgia.

"Hotch…" He barked loudly into the phone.

"_Hotch?"_

"Reid is that you?" Relief at hearing his voice was like a strong surge of adrenaline in his blood.

"_Yes… I'm okay. I'm at Quantico." _

"What?"

"_I don't have time to explain. You can't come here. Strauss is involved in all of this. I don't know if she has your phone bugged or -"_

"Slow down Reid… We know Strauss and Calloway are behind all of this. We have Kevin Lynch in our custody at Dave's home."

"_How did you figure it out?"_

"You have Garcia to thank for that. She's a much better hacker than Kevin Lynch."

"_Was there ever any doubt!"_

"No… Look Reid, I need you to stay where you are. Jordan's at Quantico with Emily. I'll let them know you're there and we'll try to find a way to get you out of there safely."

"_Hotch, Austin is here with me." _

"Alright, I'll tell Emily. Don't worry!"

"_We're on the fifteenth floor in one of the old apartments." _

"Okay, just sit tight."

"_I had some help escaping from Calloway. Agent Ramirez from Calloway's team helped me. We have to make sure he gets a break when all of this is over." _

"When this is over, we'll talk about it Reid."

Hotch shut his phone just as Morgan and Garcia entered the room. "That was Reid. He's okay, but he's at Quantico. We need to figure a way to get him out of there.

Garcia sagged back against Morgan who looked like Christmas had come early. "He's okay."

"Yes, but Austin is with him. I gathered that Calloway grabbed her too."

"Son of a bitch…"

Hotch directed his gaze at Garcia who was crying softly with relief. "I need you to hook into the surveillance system at Quantico and take it down. I need you to keep it down as long as possible."

Garcia straightened her glasses on her nose. "I thought you were going to ask me something difficult sir."

Hotch grinned at her. "I'll have to think of something else when this is over."

"What about Lynch?" Morgan wanted to know."

"Get downstairs and make sure he doesn't make any phone calls. I don't want Calloway or Strauss alerted.

"You got it."

After Morgan left the room, Hotch said. "Come with me Garcia. We've got some planning to do. This is going to require really good timing."


	31. Chapter 31

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Hotch, and the others met in Rossi's office. Garcia was positioned at her computer. Her eyes were red, but they were dry. Morgan took one look at her and decided that if he wanted to live, he'd better stay quiet about how she might be feeling at that moment.

"Can you get into the cameras at Quantico and shut down the eyes on the fifteenth floor?"

"No problem sir… I left a window open for an outside hack the last time we used the cameras."

Morgan raised an eyebrow while Rossi coughed to cover up the laugh that wanted to well up out of his chest. Hotch stared at Garcia who looked him straight in the eye.

"Ignorance is bliss sir?"

"Not always, but plausible deniability is a great thing."

"Did you just make a joke sir."

"I never joke on the job."

"Right, so let me get set up. What do we do when we get them out of the room."

"We know from the tape of the night Reid is thought to have disappeared, that the same security guard is on front desk duty now. It's Jasper! I'm leaving it up to Emily to take care of him."

"Oh man, she always gets the good jobs."

"He has a crush on her. He'll do whatever she wants." Rossi said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Hotch mumbled.

"So you think he turned a blind eye to Stark taking Reid out of the building." Garcia asked.

"I don't know, but someone tampered with the cameras that night. It was either Lynch or Jasper."

"I'll be able to tell you soon boss. Once I reconstruct the data from the cameras I'll know who tampered with them."

"So," Morgan said after a few moments of silence. "What do we do after we get Reid and Austin out of Quantico?"

"I have that end covered." Hotch said and Morgan decided from Hotch's tone, that he really didn't need to know what his boss was planning.

---

Garcia's hands flew over the keyboard while her mind stayed blank to everything but the task at hand. Or it tried to stay focused on the task she had to perform. The memories of the first time she battled with Kevin to get her shooter would stay out of her head.

_His name is Battle, don't forget that!_

Files shuffled around on her computer and soon the cameras that monitored every inch of Quantico were in her grasp.

_Remember what JJ had to do!_

_Stop it!_

For a few minutes there was nothing to do until Jordan appeared on her screen at the elevators. Then it would be time to take action.

Her heart was thumping hard, and not in the way it did when the excitement of hacking into something she wasn't supposed to be in filled her chest. This was real, and it was too close to the time Reid had almost died for real on the internet.

_Take a few deep breaths. You can do this. You are the Goddess of the BAU!_

A whine to her left made her jump and turn around. A black Labrador had come into the room. He was sitting on the floor next to her chair. He licked one of her hands with a big pink tongue and whined again.

"Hello… You must be Rossi's dog. Where have you been hiding?"

The dog whined and put his head in her lap. Her hands stroked his ears and neck. "You're a handsome guy aren't you.

The dog barked and put his head back in her lap. "Hey, don't worry. Your master will come upstairs after he finishes 'talking' to a real ba - I mean a _really_ bad man."

The dog looked up at her out of his dark eyes.

"Listen, I can't play with you right now. But, Morgan has a dog, and I'm sure he'd be happy to play with you after he finishes helping your master."

The dog chuffed and pulled his head out of her lap. He laid down next to her chair and put his head on his paws.

"Okay, if you want to keep me company, I'd really like that."

The dog looked up at her out of his eyes and whined.

"Wish me luck!"

----

Hotch called Agent Todd and outlined his plan to her. "I need you to be the one to go up to the fifteenth floor."

"_Why me sir," _curiosity drove her question, not fear.

"You're the newest member of the team. If Strauss is watching, she won't think it strange if you head up to the fifteenth floor. Just in case, Garcia is taking out the cameras on that level. She's going to make it look like a computer error and let security fix it. She estimates you'll have fifteen minutes from the time the elevator stops on that floor."

"_How do we get past the guard?" _

"I spoke to Emily. She's going to distract Jasper. Once you're past the desk, get down to the garage. Take your time leaving the base. We don't need the base police stopping you for any reason."

"_Don't worry Hotch. I'll see you in an hour." _

_---_

Reid closed Stark's phone and placed it in his pants pocket. Hotch knew they were there so all they had to do was wait. Ramirez was gone, and if he was smart he would help Hotch.

"Is everything okay?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine. My team knows we're here and safe."

He opened the door a crack and looked out. The corridors of the fifteenth floor were deserted as far as he could see. As he looked around his limited field of vision, the urge to just grab Austin and run for it was unbearable.

_Had they traded one prison for another?_

"Spencer…"

He jumped, then shut the door. She had an odd questioning look on her face when he turned around to look at her.

"Sorry… I was just thinking. I do that a lot."

She didn't look convinced at this explanation. "Are you sure we're safe here?"

The plastic couch screeched when he sat down next to her. _Put your arms around her!_

Instead, he said, "I don't know for sure. I guess someone who's working on the renovation could stumble on us. The likelihood of that happening depends on several factors. The construction for the new classrooms started four months ago. I was looking at the plans for the renovation and if you factor in the time it usually takes for any government project to be completed, by the number of apartments they have to renovate and add in the number of workmen -"

Austin reached over and put a hand over his mouth. "Is there a point to all this?"

"Oh yeah… I'm sorry, I sort of tend to ramble when I'm nervous or when someone asks me a question or -" He shut his mouth and went pink in the ears. "I'm doing it again."

"Yeah, but for some reason I find it very sexy."

His face was growing hot, but at least she didn't look like she was going to cry at any moment. _Because everyone knows you can't handle a crying woman._

"Most girls just walk away when I do that." He said matter-of-factly.

"They don't know what they're missing."

She scooted over on the couch and one of her thigh's touched his. "They don't," He squeaked.

"No, they don't," She kissed him.

Her mouth was warm and soft. The pressure of her lips on his was making little pin pricks of cold go up and down his spine. He pulled away from her when the kiss began to go hot, and hard on his mouth, and her tongue began trying to enter his mouth. It was making his brain go fuzzy and forgetful of where they were and why they were hiding.

"We can't," He gasped and tried to slide away from her, but there wasn't room to move. "We have to stay alert. Emily is going to be calling very soon with our timeline.

Austin backed off, but she looked like she wanted to argue. "Okay, but when we get out of here, you owe me for earlier in the bathroom."

"S-shouldn't w-we slow d-down."

"Spencer Reid, we've just been held hostage together. I think slowing down would be pretty anti-climatic at this point."

"It's not funny… You could have been killed and it would've been all my fault."

Austin reared back in surprise. "I don't blame you for this. It's not your fault!"

"Yes it is. If I hadn't come to Atlanta and met you, you'd be safe in your own apartment."

She stood up and went to the door. "Where are you going?" He said.

"I'm getting out of here on my own. If you think I'd be better off by myself, then I'll take my chances."

"No!" He hurried to her side and pulled her into his arms. "I couldn't bear it if you left here and something happened."

"Then stop blaming yourself. The day I met you was the best day of my life."

"You were kidnapped by a serial killer. How can you say it was the best day of your life?"

"Because it brought you to me. I'd go through it all again for the chance to know you."

He shook his head in disbelief. _How could she just say that with total faith in her eyes?_

"Now are you going to sit over there with me and tell me how we're getting out of here."

"Ah sure," He squeaked. She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed. "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know."

They sat down and he explained that the escape plan was up to the girls because they needed to take out the cameras and cause some kind of distraction for the guard on the door.

"But I don't understand, this is your work. Why are they trying to hurt you?"

He explained all of it to her including how they had been betrayed by Garcia's lover and their boss. He told her about how they'd been held captive in an old bomb shelter.

"I thought the secret shelter that was built just for J Edgar Hoover and his cronies was a legend. I guess it wasn't," Reid said.

"Wow…"

"Yeah…"

His phone rang. He talked for a long time to someone and then turned to Austin. "We have to be ready to go in exactly six minutes. Agent Todd is on her way up here now."


	32. Chapter 32

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Ramirez shifted in the brown sling chair that was one of three sitting against the wall of the outer office of the Director.

His eye that wore the eye patch itched a bit. Agent Curtis had said he'd have to keep light out of it for another three days and it would be as good as new. It didn't hurt anymore, but even if it had, he looked at it like punishment for helping Calloway. He should have come to see the Director at the first sign there was trouble.

The Director's secretary broke into his thoughts. "He will see you now."

She opened the office door and Ramirez entered with shaking hands. The office was large with a leather couch at one end and a glass coffee table. The large desk at the opposite end was oak with a dark mahogany colored finish. On the wall behind the desk was a picture of the President of the United States. To the left was a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and to the right, George Washington.

"My secretary tells me you have something very important to tell me. She said it has to do with Section Chief Strauss and your Unit Chief." The Director said from his chair.

The man behind the desk sat in a black leather office chair. He was medium height and build with graying black hair. His dark eyes bore into Ramirez like a high-powered drill. He wasn't smiling.

"Yes sir, I can explain everything."

"I can give you thirty minutes," the Director said.

----

Jordan strolled by Emily's desk and dropped a file on it. She headed back up to JJ's office without stopping to speak to her new friend. Her path took her past Strauss's office. It was almost six pm, but the Section Chief was at her desk. Jordan had just passed her office when Strauss called to her through the open door.

"Agent Todd… A minute of your time," It was a command not to be ignored.

Jordan stifled the urge to turn and run as her heart rate began to skyrocket. "Yes ma'am?"

"Come in and sit down. Close the door!"

Jordan closed the door and sat down in the chair that was positioned in front of Strauss desk like an electric chair.

"What can I do for you ma'am?" Todd asked, after resisting the urge to clear her throat nervously.

Strauss tossed down the file she'd been perusing and pulled off her glasses. She pinned Jordan with a searching stare and waited for long moments before speaking.

Jordan was able to keep her eyes on the Section Chief only because she knew that when this was over, Strauss would be gone.

Finally Strauss said. "Where is your team?"

"Hotch and Rossi are pursuing a lead about Dr. Reid."

"What kind of lead?"

"We received a tip that he'd been in Las Vegas. His mother lives there in a sanitarium. Hotch contacted them, but they hadn't seen him. Hotch feels that the people that kidnapped him may be operating out of that area."

"Really?"

"Yes ma'am."

Her heart was pounding so hard that Jordan thought Strauss would hear it or see it thumping in her chest. She kept her hands as still as she could in her lap while she lied through her teeth.

"You're doing excellent work as Agent Jareau's replacement. You wouldn't want to do anything to put a black mark on your record here."

"No ma'am," Did her voice just start shaking?"

"Don't let Agent Hotchner influence you into doing anything that would put your position in jeopardy."

"I don't know what you're talking about ma'am."

"I'm advising you to step carefully. Agent Hotchner has an unhealthy influence over his team. The fact that Dr. Reid has apparently dropped out of sight without telling anyone where he was going is a good example of what is wrong with this team. It concerns me that there has been so much turmoil on his team in the last four years."

"Permission to speak frankly ma'am?"

Strauss motioned her to go ahead with one hand. "I have no intention of staying in the BAU. I look forward to going back to counter-terrorism."

Strauss raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Being here has taught me that I don't belong with profilers. This job belongs to JJ and she's good at it."

"I appreciate your candor Agent Todd."

"I'm just being honest."

"You'll let me know if there is anything I should know before Agent Jareau returns from her maternity leave."

Strauss was maintaining direct eye contact with her. She kept her eyes straight ahead out of sheer will. "Yes ma'am," Her words didn't stutter but her heart felt like it was going to stop in her chest.

"Good. I knew that I could count on you."

Strauss went back to her files and Jordan knew she'd been dismissed. She got up and managed to leave the room without falling over on her shaking legs. She snuck a quick look at her watch and nearly fainted with relief. Strauss hadn't thrown her completely off schedule. She'd just shut JJ's office door when her phone beeped. She read the text message there and headed for the elevator.

Emily was at her desk with her head bent over her files when Jordan pushed the up button. Jordan only glanced at the bullpen out of the corner of her eye while she waited. The car finally arrived and she stepped inside and pushed the button for the fourteenth floor. The elevator seemed to stop on every stop before she got off one floor below her goal.

She bypassed her old office and was grateful that it was getting late as most of the agents she might know were nowhere in sight. She stepped through the first door to her left and disappeared.

---

Emily picked up the file that Jordan left on her desk and read the contents. She looked at her watch and then went back to the CSI report on Reid's apartment that she'd already read five times. The other files on her desk were calling for attention, but there was no way she could work on any of them.

She looked at the clock again about five minutes later. It was time to move. She picked up her phone and sent a text message to a familiar number. Another message came back to her phone and she sent a second message to another number.

She was bent over her desk and a different file when the elevator doors pinged. It was time to go do what she needed to do. The elevator was empty when she entered it and pushed the button for the lobby. Her hair had been in the same pony tail for two days and it felt greasy when she let it fall to her shoulders, but there was no time for primping. She flipped open the top two buttons of her dark blue blouse.

"You are so going to owe me for this Reid." She muttered under her breath.

_Just remember that you'll all be better off when Strauss is taken down for this._

That was a very nice thought that put a big smile on her face as she exited the elevator and made her way over to her target.

"Hello Agent Prentiss," Jasper leered at the cleavage she was showing.

Jasper's face was as unfortunate as his name. His forehead sloped so that he resembled a throw back to the Cro-Magnon eyes were tiny and muddy brown. His ears were large and stuck out from his head. His skin was covered with acne scars and when he smiled small children cried. He was very tall and thin, but stronger than he looked. There was nothing attractive about him and Emily cringed on the inside.

"Hello Jasper," She said leaning over the desk. She rolled her eyes at his inability to yank his eyes away from her chest. "What'cha doin'?" She said flirtatiously.

"I'm trying not to die of boredom." His eyes were still crawling over her cleavage.

"Yeah, it's pretty boring upstairs too."

"I thought you were looking for Dr. Reid?"

"How did you know about that?"

"The grapevine…"

"Yeah, well it looks like Dr. Reid just ran away. I can't say I blame him. This job is _very_ stressful."

He finally met her eyes. "I'll bet it is."

"I just don't know what I can do to relax these days." She ran a finger around the shiny surface of the desk leaving smudges in lazy circles.

She heard Jasper swallow hard. He was almost drooling when she reached over and grabbed his tie. "Is there some place private we can go?"

"Um…" He swallowed very hard. "Yeah… Just this way," He pointed the she let him lead her to a closet down the hall.

---

It's all in place sir. The cameras are down except for the lobby. I have a tape looping for Jasper till Emily distracts him. They should be coming off the elevators in two minutes."

"What about the cameras on the fifteenth and the sixth floor?"

"They're down, but not for long. I can keep out the tech guys indefinitely, but it's better to let them think they fixed the problem without actually checking the cameras."

"Good… I'm going to get on the phone with the Director. Do you have that file put together for me?"

"Yes sir, "Garcia handed him a disc.

"I've got a couple of things that need to come out into the open." Rossi said.

"Keep them under wraps for a little while Dave. If this doesn't work, then we'll use what you have."

"Alright, I'm going back down to the basement. Morgan was getting pretty antsy down there. He wants to… Well I think you know what he wants to do to Lynch."

"Part of me wants to let him beat Lynch senseless, but I can't."

"Yeah, I'd help him…"

Hotch gave him a look and Rossi shrugged his shoulders. "I wonder if playing by the rules this time is the way to go."

Hotch didn't reply and Rossi left him alone. He looked down at the phone in his hand as Rossi's words replayed in his head. _Would playing by the rules do more harm than good?_

_How many times have you played by the rules and someone you care about gets hurt?_

There were too many times to count. Maybe it was time to do things differently for a change. This was the last time he'd let someone try to break the most vulnerable of them.

He opened his phone and dialed a number. "It's Hotch… I need your help."

---

Reid's phone beeped. He let go of Austin long enough to read the text message on the screen. "It's time to go. Jordan will be here in two minutes."

"Are you sure this isn't a trick?"

Her dark eyes were full of fear he'd seen before in Georgia. "It's okay. I trust my friends to get us out of here."

"Okay… Let's get the hell out of here."

They waited, and the two minutes seemed like twenty, but finally a knock sounded at the door. "Ready?"

"Ready," She smiled at him and he opened the door.


	33. Chapter 33

**_Disclaimer: see my profile_**

Reid opened the door and found Stark standing there with a gun pointed directly at him. He held up one hand and a set of keys dangled from it. "You should have searched me better when I was knocked out Dr. Reid. It's too bad you panicked and didn't bother to check out the rest of the level you were on. Did you really think you could keep me locked up in that room?"

Did you think I wouldn't check the cameras and find out where that traitor Ramirez hid you away? I guess your technical analyst didn't get the cameras taken out as fast as you thought she would. Now that they're down, no one will see when we leave together."

Reid backed away from the man who was bleeding from the head wound in his scalp. He didn't look like he was hurt, he looked pissed off.

"That was a very stupid thing to do Dr. Reid?"

"We can talk about this." Reid said, pulling Austin to him.

"The time for talking is over. Step away from the girl."

"No…"

"Do it now!"

Reid pushed Austin behind him. "You'll have to kill me to get to her. If you kill me, Calloway will take you out."

"I'm not worried about Calloway."

"What about Strauss, she went to a lot of trouble to set this up. You kill me and my team will never stop hunting you."

"I have enough money to disappear to any one of a dozen countries without extradition treaties. Do you think I'm worried about the all mighty FBI and Aaron Hotchner?"

Reid had backed up to the couch and Stark had entered the room with his gun on both of them. There was a movement behind the big man and Reid's eyes tracked the person that had stepped into the room.

"H-hello J-Jordan," He's voice was shaking with relief.

"I'm not going to fall for that again."

"That's too bad. Drop the gun!" Jordan put her gun right into his back.

"I told you." Reid said. He reached down for his gun, keeping his eyes on Stark, who looked like he wanted to strangle Reid with his bare hands.

"I'll take care of him," Jordan said.

They led Stark into the bedroom and cuffed him to the headboard of the bed. The cheap iron clinked against and metal of the cuffs as Stark angrily tried to pull loose.

"Just settle down Agent," Jordan said. "There'll be someone along to get you loose in a few hours."

"I'll kill you _all_!"

"That's not very nice." Jordan said. Reid began to laugh and Austin looked at him as if he'd gone mad.

"Spencer…"

"S-sorry, It's j-just that I d-dreamed of this v-very thing when I was l-locked up. Much better than the nightmares I always have."

Jordan began to laugh too, and soon Austin was laughing as well. Stark tried to kick out at Jordan and she leveled her gun at him. "Settle down," she warned him.

They left the room and Jordan said, "We don't have much time. Get to the elevator now. Garcia can only keep the cameras down for another five minutes."

Reid picked up his messenger bag and Austin grabbed the shoes she taken off while they waited. The elevator seemed to take forever to get to the floor.

"How are we going to get out of this without being seen?"

Jordan shushed him when her phone beeped. She rapidly began to text on her phone just as the elevator doors opened. "Garcia's got it covered."

Reid shrugged at Austin and followed Jordan into the elevator. Jordan pushed the button for the garage. The elevator began to move and it didn't stop till the doors open on the garage level.

"Please don't tell me that Garcia just turned the elevator into an express." Jordan only looked at him. "Oh right!" He said.

"Spencer?"

"I'll explain later."

They headed over to Jordan's car and piled in. She drove out slowly and headed for the exit as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The guards at the gate waved her through with their usual stern faces.

"Well, that was a close one." Jordan breathed as they headed for the highway.

"Thanks Jordan," Reid said from the back seat.

He and Austin sat up from where they'd huddled in the back seat. "Yeah, thanks for getting us out of there." Austin agreed.

"I'm just glad you're okay Dr. Reid."

"I'm thrilled to be out of there."

"No offense Spencer, but I don't think I want to get back to your place of employment any time soon." Austin declared.

He put his arm around her. "I can't say that I blame you at all. Would it help if I told you that today was an off day for us?"

She stared up at him in amazement while Jordan chuckled. "That's not funny Spencer!"

He laughed at the expression on her face. "I'm sorry Austin. I'm not trying to make light of this… I just have to laugh or I'm going to go nuts."

She hugged him hard and he groaned in pain at the pressure on his tender ribs. "Sorry Spencer," she said looking him over so thoroughly that he began to feel like a horse up for auction.

"It's okay… I just want to be someplace where someone isn't threatening my life."

"We'll be there soon Dr. Reid."

"Did you hear that Austin. We're going to be safe soon."

---

Hotch was at the window when Jordan drew up in her car. His heart jumped up into his throat when Reid and Austin got out of her car. Still, he was rooted to the spot while they walked up the driveway and to the back door.

He only listened as Morgan let them into the kitchen. His feet wanted to move in the direction of the man he thought of as a substitute younger brother. He couldn't make them mover though, it was like they'd been set into cement. What an odd and curious sensation. He swallowed past the lump in throat. He'd wait for all the back slapping from Morgan and the fawning from Garcia.

"Don't you ever do this to me again sweet cheeks?" He heard Garcia scolding Reid, and it made him smile.

"Aren't you going to go say hello."

Dave had come up behind him. "I'm sure he'd like to see you."

"No, let the rest of the team talk with him. He's going to have a lot to deal with when this is over."

"He needs to see you "Dad," Rossi said with a smile.

"That's not funny!"

"Yes it is. You know that's how the kids see you."

"What does that make you?"

"Why "mother," of course," He laughed.

"Alright, let's go welcome the wayward child home."

Hotch followed Dave to the kitchen on legs that still felt very heavy. Garcia was just releasing Reid from a hug that looked like it had broken his ribs. There eyes met over the top of Garcia's head. He saw the questioning look in the younger man's eyes. He wanted to smile or give thumbs up or in someway show Reid that he wasn't afraid. Instead he felt his face rearrange into the same stern look he wore like a second skin.

He could see that Reid was disappointed, but then his eyes seemed to change as Hotch approached him. He nodded his head once and let Hotch give him a quick hug.

"You gotta stop doin' this," Morgan said.

"I didn't do it on purpose Morgan!"

"That's the point my man. You never get into trouble on purpose!"

"Should I tie a sign around me neck that says: Would you please be so kind as to not kidnap me." Reid retorted and the others laughed, including Hotch.

"No, you don't have to do that, but I believe that Garcia said once that she was going to put a bell around your neck."

"That's a good idea." Austin agreed.

"No it's _not_. I fail to see how making me wear a bell would stop some maniac with a gun or knife that wants to kidnap me."

Over everyone's loud laughter, there came a knock at the door. Rossi went to the kitchen door and let Emily in.

"Hey, I see you got away with your blouse intact." Morgan kidded.

"No thanks to your crazy plan."

"It worked."

"I can see that," She greeted Austin and then hugged Reid who groaned.

"What happened to you?"

"I fell running for my life."

At Emily's puzzled look he said. "I'll tell you all about it later. What happens now?" He turned his big brown eyes on Hotch.

"We wait for the fall out. Agents are on their way here to pick up Lynch. In the meantime, I suggest that you get some rest.

The room was very quiet for long agonizing moments. Then Morgan said, "So Emily, how did you get away from Jasper so fast."

Emily smirked at Morgan. "It's a good thing I have handcuffs."


	34. Chapter 34

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

Hotch shut his phone and returned it to the clip on his belt. His stomach was churning at the news he'd just been given. The kitchen was right ahead of him, so he detoured in for a cup of coffee. Dave made the best coffee outside of Gideon's famous brew. It was ten times better than the sludge at Quantico.

The kitchen was huge with a center island for extra counter space. Above the island was a wine rack about half full. The appliances were stainless steel and top of the line. The granite counter tops and terracotta tile floors were polished to a high shine. There was a square wooden chopping block in one corner of the room that doubled as a place to eat. Two wooden chairs faced it at precise angles like soldiers. If he didn't know how much Rossi loved to cook, he'd think that no one lived there.

The smell of coffee drew him to the coffee maker on the counter next to a tree hung with coffee cups. He grabbed one and was pouring a cup when someone cleared their throat behind him. He turned to find Reid standing there shuffling his feet.

"Hello Hotch," he said softly.

His eyes met Hotch's forthrightly, but he looked confused and shell shocked. He also looked like he was still upright by sheer force of will.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Hotch said and then flinched at the way his question came out sounding so harsh. "I mean, you look so tired and I'm sure you must be glad to be out of where you were held."

"Um… Yeah, I just can't sleep. I smelled the coffee and since Austin is asleep…"

He suddenly went so red in the face that Hotch felt embarrassed for the young man. He clearly wasn't comfortable with Rossi putting the two of them in the same room for the night. But it couldn't be helped as there were only so many bedrooms in the house and they'd all refused to go home.

"I'll get you a cup." Hotch turned back to the coffee pot.

When he turned around again, Reid was sitting on one of the chairs at the cutting block. Hotch took the cup to him and didn't criticize his caffeine intake at that time of night.

"I'm sorry that you can't sleep." Hotch said as he sat down. "I had hoped you would get some rest before I told you what I've learned and what I've done. I must ask you to keep the first thing I'm going to tell you to yourself."

Reid nodded and remained silent. Hotch's stomach churned again at the look of total trust on the young man's face.

"I've had a conversation with our friend on the fourteenth floor."

"Oh…"

"Yes, He asked me to assure you that SSA Calloway, SSA Stark and Section Chief Strauss, will never bother you again. No matter what you hear about them, they'll never touch you or Austin again. Do you trust me?"

The large hazel eyes never moved from Hotch's face. He nodded slowly at this revelation. "I trust you Hotch."

"I must ask you never to tell anyone what I've told you. If there is fallout, I will take the responsibility."

"Yes sir."

"Now, I just spoke with a contact in Los Angeles. Your uncle is in custody. Apparently he confessed to everything on a promise from Calloway that you would come see him."

"I don't ever want to see him again."

"You don't have to see him. Calloway lied and now that he is less then reliable to the FBI, that agreement is withdrawn. However, in a search of his residence, the police found souvenirs from the murdered men and other evidence."

"He was my favorite uncle." Reid whispered. Tears fell down his face and he wiped them away impatiently. "He was the one that taught me my first magic trick. I trusted him with my life."

"Reid…"

"Did you know that I haven't been able to see him all these years? I didn't remember, but somehow I knew. I should have tried to harder to remember."

"Reid, it's going to be hell getting through this, but we'll help you."

"I never want to see him again." Reid said bitterly and more tears leaked out of his eyes.

"You won't have too. He'll never see the light of day again either."

"He'll always be alive in my mind."

"And you have us and Austin to help you though it."

"I wouldn't blame Austin if she left."

"She's not going to leave. She cares a lot about you."

Reid wouldn't look at him. He played with the handle of the coffee mug on the table in front of him. His cheeks were pink and Hotch had to smile.

"You know Reid, just because it isn't logical doesn't mean that love at first sight isn't possible."

Reid's head snapped up and his mouth dropped. Hotch tried not to laugh, but couldn't stop the smile that turned up his mouth.

"How did you…"

"I'm a profiler, but more important I'm a man. I remember the first time I saw Haley… I knew we'd be together always. Then I messed it up. I'll always regret that for the sake of my son. Hold on to Austin, don't let anything come between you, you'll regret it if you do. If the day ever comes that you must chose between her and the job, be sure you pick her. You can do whatever you want. I know that you're here in this job because of your uncle. You wanted to make sure that no one goes through what you did and I understand that, but now you need to decide if you're here because you truly love it."

Reid took another sip of his coffee and thought for a long time. "I'm here because I want to be. I love my job."

"I'm glad, because we care about you and want you to be happy."

"Thanks Hotch."

"Now, leave that coffee alone and go back to bed. There is a traumatized young woman that needs you and I suspect you need her."

"Hotch, Um… Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, of course you can."

"Um… What do I say to her?"

"Why don't you go back and hold her. You'll know what to do when she wakes up."

"Um… Okay."

Hotch watched the young man leave the room and he let himself indulge in a laugh. Reid was about to find out how great love could be.

"Don't let him mess it up like I did." He said to no one in particular.

---

Reid opened the bathroom door. It was down the hall from the room he was sharing with Austin which happened to bee next door to Rossi. The hallway looked very long, and not long enough at the same time. He'd changed into the sweats and tee shirt from his ready bag that he used for pajamas. Jordan had brought one of her night shirts for Austin to wear so sleeping in the same bed should be safe enough for them.

He tiptoed down the dark hallway. Morgan was downstairs with Hotch using a couple of sleeping bags that Rossi had in storage. Emily was sharing the pullout bed in the living room sofa with Garcia. Jordan had taken the only other furnished bedroom in the house with a twin bed. The house was silent, but he felt like someone was listening to him creep around.

_No one is listening to you. Calloway is gone!_

Still, that prickly back of the neck feeling wouldn't go away. Suddenly he didn't feel safe at all. He dashed to the door that he could barely see in the moonlight from the living room that seeped into the hallway. He opened the door, raced inside and slammed it shut. More moonlight showed the figure in bed sit up and Austin said, "Who's there," in a shaking voice.

He crawled into the bed and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"Spencer… What's wrong? You're shaking," She patted his back with trembling hands.

"He's never going away."

"It's okay, we're safe."

"No we're not. He'll come after me again."

"No, he won't come after you. He's going to jail."

"He'll never stop!"

"Shh… It's okay baby." She kissed his forehead. "Try to get some sleep."

"No! I love you Austin. I can't lose you."

"You're not going to lose -"

He kissed her and her mind went blank, shutting out everything but the feel of his hands on her body and the heat of his lips on hers.

---

Austin opened her eyes to golden sunlight seeping into the room around the blinds at the window. The confusion of where she was left when two arms tightened around her. She lay on her side and a warm body was holding her close. She looked down to see two familiar hands holding her around the waist.

She untangled from him and got up. He turned over as soon as she stood up. She pulled on the sleeping shirt Jordan had leant her, but that had spent most of the night on the floor. She looked down at him and nearly laughed. He lay on his back spread eagle with his arm thrown out. His hair was a mess but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

The bathroom was calling her so she grabbed her tee shirt and jeans, also leant by Jordan. A shower was just the ticket. Then she'd figure out how to deal with new feelings that had hold on her heart.

She opened the door to the bedroom and nearly tripped over a black labrador dog that lay next to the door. The dog looked up and whined at her. "Well hello there!" She reached done and patted his head.

The dog whined and looked in Reid's direction. "Is Spencer why you're out here?"

The dog chuffed softly and stared at the sleeping man. "He's okay!" She assured the dog who looked up at her with dark eyes.

"I promise!"

She petted the dog till he lay back down and put his head on his paws. "Stay with him... He needs lots of friends."

---

Emily was helping Rossi with breakfast when Morgan and Hotch came into the room with Garcia and Jordan. "Smells great…" Hotch said.

"There's coffee over there," He pointed with the spatula in his hand. "I thought we do this buffet style in the dining room."

"Sounds great," Morgan said.

They took turns with the coffee and made their way into the dining room through the swinging door. Garcia had grabbed the platter of pancakes and Morgan took the pitcher of orange juice.

Rossi finished up with the bacon just as Austin came into the big room. "Hi," She said.

Rossi looked at Emily and smirked. "How's Reid this morning?"

"He's fine." She said brightly.

"Hey everyone," Reid came into room still clad in sleepwear, and rubbing at his eyes like a small child. Emily began to laugh at him.

"I know I'm no prize in the morning but do you have to laugh!"

"It's not that," Rossi said as Emily transferred bacon to another platter.

"Then what's so funny?"

"I'll try to say this as delicately as I can because there are ladies present." Rossi said, as he removed the griddle to the sink. "We all understand that you two went through a terrible ordeal. We know you're both feeling very vulnerable right now."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Just that you forgot last night that you two weren't alone in this house," Rossi said.

Reid went scarlet, because he had forgotten that he and Austin weren't alone that night. Austin was nearly as red as Reid.

"I'm sorry Dave. Um… did we keep you awake?"

"Yes, but I'm willing to forgive and not say anything to the rest if you agree to clean up."

"That's blackmail!" Reid said indignantly.

"True," He stared at the young couple who were squirming uncomfortably under his gaze and Emily's smirk.

"Fine, we'll clean up the mess."

"Now see, that wasn't so hard." Rossi put his arm around Reid and led him out of the kitchen.

"Don't worry, we won't tell on you." Emily promised Austin.

"Thanks, it was just that -"

"You don't have to explain. Reid is happy and I'm very glad."

Austin went pink again. "You guys really care about each other."

"Yeah, we do…"

"I'm glad! Spencer needs good friends and family."

"He has it. And don't worry… Everyone involved in this is out of the picture. They'll never hurt you or Reid again."

"Are you sure? He was so scared last night."

"I'm sure. Hotch got the call this morning. Agent Ramirez, the one that helped you, is getting immunity for his part in this. No one wants to take him away from his family."

"Is that okay."

"Yeah, I think its okay. I think I can understand why he would have helped Calloway."

"Me too," Austin said. "Even though I don't know that whole story, there was something about him that I trusted."

"Well, enough about this. Let's go eat before they wonder what happened to us."

Austin followed Emily to the dining room. Now she understood why Reid wanted to stay at his job despite the heartache. His family was here. They looked out for him and each other. She would do everything she could to find her place with them.

The swinging door opened and Morgan came in. "There you are! Are you hiding from us," he grinned at her.

"No, I was just on my way to join you!"

_**A/n this is the last chapter before an epilogue dealing with my version of what happens to Stark, Strauss and Calloway. There will be a cameo from a character I borrowed from Editor Frog. In her universe, there is an original character named Josh Hollenbeck. He's French, a rather large man and head of counter terrorism at Quantico. He's been in cases with the BAU in her stories and has become quite fond of the team, including Reid. He knows just about everyone and you don't mess with him on any level. That's who Hotch called to 'take care,' of the terrible three.**_


	35. Chapter 35

_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n this is what I imagine could happen to the terrible three. Of course it would never happen like this on the show or RL but I can dream. There are two cameos Josh Hollenbeck and characters from a cancelled show from last season called "Moonlight." Thanks to all my loyal readers, and to REIDFANATIC my ever faithful beta. And Editor Frog for her inspiration and letting me borrow Josh. You guys all rock.**_

**_Epilogue_**

Stark opened his eyes to bright sunlight over his head. It was burning hot and his throat was parched. He sat up, and nearly threw up, when his head and stomach heaved. There was something gritty under him. He blinked his eyes and saw that he was sitting in sand.

The sun was pounding down on him. He'd never been in heat that was like this. It sapped the strength from him so that he could hardly stand up. He climbed to his feet despite the heat and looked around. There was sand, but also hills and rocks. There were no houses, or buildings, or people for as far as he could see.

"Hey, where am I?" He yelled, or rather rasped out in a voice that didn't carry on the wind that was blowing.

He took a step and realized that his shoes were gone. The pounding in his head had blocked out the heat in the sand, but now he felt it like hot knives on the soles of his feet.

"Ow, God damn it." He tried to shout but his voice was nearly gone from thirst. He hopped from one foot to another like a small child on the beach in the middle of the day.

The big rocks to his left called to him with the promise of shade so he hopped as fast as he could. His feet felt like someone was holding them to hot coals. Sweat poured off his face and down his chin to his neck by the time he reached the rock.

He sat down on the rock, which was very hot through the thin material of his pants. At least his feet were off the hot sand.

He was further startled by the ringing of a telephone, but it didn't sound like his phone. He realized there was a large lump in his pocket. He pulled it out and opened the rather large satellite phone.

"Hello, you have to help me, I'm in the middle of some desert and there no one around."

"'_ello Agent Stark. My name es Josh 'ollenbeck."_

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"_You weel be silent and leesin to me."_

"No one tells me to shut up pal. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"_I am a friend of Dr. Reid and Agent 'otchner. You know them, no." _

"Yes…"

"_You air en a place called Iran, just ovair ze bordair from Iraq." _

"You're lying!"

"_I assure you I am not lying. There are Iranian soldiers guarding ze bordair in the vicinity to you. I would hide eef I wair you." _

"I'm not hiding. I don't believe you."

"_Zen stay whair you air and you weel see." _

"I'm a federal agent. I'll have you up on charges so fast -"

"_Be quiet Agent Stark. You kidnapped my young friend and so I am leaving you in enemy terreetory. The Iranians weel love to 'ave you for a prisonair." _

Stark began to tremble. He didn't recognize anything around him. Was it possible the he was truly in Iran?

"Look, it was all Strauss's idea. I was just doing what I had to _do_. They threatened me and my family."

"_You don't 'ave a family. You air alone en thees world. No one weel miss you." _

"Please…"

_"No, I think I weel let you make your way home alone. Tell ze guards hello from me." _

The phone went dead and when he tried to call out, it wouldn't work. He threw it down on the ground and stomped on it with his feet.

Suddenly from behind him, a man spoke in English with a heavy Middle Eastern accent "What are you doing here infidel?"

He turned and saw the two men holding machine guns on him. "I am -"

He was hit in the head with the end of one of the guns. He fell forward without a groan into the hot sand. They drug him away into the setting sun, and discussed how much they might get for him at market.

-----

Her eyes opened onto a very bright light over her head. The brightness made her eyes tear up and the pain in her skull beat like someone playing the drums in her head.

She sat up in the darkness and tried to find the light switch, but her hands wouldn't move. Something was holding her arms.

Her mouth and throat were on fire from thirst. Swallowing seemed to be almost impossible. She turned her head to one side and cried out in pain. Her voice was hoarse and it grated out of her throat like a door hinge in need of oil.

"Someone help me."

There was silence, but someone was there, she knew it. She turned her head to the other side and screamed when a rat squeaked somewhere in the darkness. Now she could hear water dripping in a slow rhythm somewhere to her left.

"Where am I?" She tired to snap out in her most demanding tone.

"Hello Section Chief Strauss," A voice spoke right next to her and she screamed.

"Who are you?"

"I wouldn't be so demanding if I were you."

It wasn't her husband and she wasn't in bed next to him. The smell of the place nearly made her gag. It was a familiar smell that she didn't want to contemplate.

The person holding her yanked her up onto her feet. "Please turn on the light."

"I don't think so. Get going human!"

The person drug her through the darkness. Something clanged shut behind her as they moved. Her right arm was in a vice grip so strong the tears came to her eyes. She stumbled and would have fallen had the person next to her not had that iron hand on her wrist.

He pulled her into a room that had a bright light over a large table. The table was empty but for a crimson table cloth and a candelabra in the middle.

"Welcome SC Strauss…" A voice said from the shadows.

There was utter silence but for what sounded like the impatient rustling of clothing. She tried to look around and was yanked up short by the person next to her. She turned her head toward him and saw that he was a perfectly ordinary man with unusual blue eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I'm your host." A rather handsome man with a slight build, and short brown hair stepped forward.

"My host for _what_!"

"Oh, Josh was right about you! You are a feisty one."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" But fear had made an icy nest in her heart.

"Josh is a good friend of mine. He literally saved my life."

There were hissing voices from the background. "My friends don't believe in being beholden to any human. In fact, I've told Josh my favor is repaid in full. But, I like him, so if he ever needed me to dispose of another meddling human, I'd do it for free."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She repeated, but her voice was shaking.

The man came closer and she could see that he wore a black Armani tux. "You know exactly why you're here." His dark eyes were hypnotic.

"No, I don't know what you mean. You've kidnapped a federal agent. If you let me go now -"

"Oh, don't you know, you're not leaving here. You're the guest of honor at a welcome home party for my friend.

Someone stepped out of the shadows to her right. She turned her head; a woman with very dark hair and porcelain skin glided up to the man in the tux. She wore low cut red dress that hugged her voluptuous body and diamonds at her ears and neck.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Josef and this is Elizabeth. She's a friend from my childhood that just came into town. This party is for her."

He nodded to someone in the shadows and music began. "I trust you'll remember this song."

"The Captain of her Heart," began to play and tears escaped her eyes. "I can see that you do. Josh was very upset that you targeted Dr. Spencer Reid. He considers the young man to be a friend and I think a bit of a son. As I told you, any friend of Josh's, is a friend of mine. You target my friends and I'm going to be very unhappy."

"Turn off the music!"

"Josh said you'd find this tune particularly 'inspiring,' although I can't imagine why. It grates on my ears."

The others stepped out of the shadows and hissed in agreement. They were all dressed in formal wear and they were looking at Strauss like she was prime rib.

"I'm sorry for the primitive surroundings, but our mutual friend asked me to be discreet with this dinner party."

"Dinner party? What are you talking about?"

"It's easy Section Chief Strauss… We're vampires and you're the main course."

Strauss tried to laugh over her heart which had begun to pound. She coughed hard and said, "You're nuts."

"You're not the first one to say that to me."

"I'm bored!" Elizabeth whined.

"All right, let's get on with this."

"Are you sure we can't turn her boss." Another man had stepped up to Josef's side. "From what Josh told you, she'd make a great vamp."

"No… we drain her and call the cleaners to deal with what's left."

"You're crazy," Strauss said.

"No, but we are hungry."

"You expect me to believe you're vampires."

"No, I expect you to be the main course."

He leaned in closer and she tried to pull away. "Get away from me!"

"Hm… AB negative… I haven't had that for at least a month."

"Stop!" Strauss screamed.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon."

She couldn't see anything but his eyes that turned blue. She screamed again when his fangs flashed down and ripped into her jugular. She went silent when ten vampires drained her white. ---

Calloway snapped awake when something beeped right next to his ear. He was sitting up and the room was dark around him. A single light fell down on him from above and made the rest of the room seem full of wavering shadows.

Someone snapped something metal on metal against his arm. It held his arm to something next to him. He looked down and saw the arm rest of a metal chair. It was an old fashioned metal cuff that bit into his arm when he tried to move. He tried to move the other arm, but it was similarly restrained.

He tried to shift, but his legs were restrained too. His backside and his back were pressing into something hard and round. It was like sitting on several small metal balls.

"Good Eevening Agent Calloway."

"Who are you?" He demanded of the unseen voice.

"I em a, ''ow you sea,' a compatreeot of Agent 'otchner."

Calloway started to shiver. "I don't know any Agent Hotchner."

"Eet well do you no good to deny eet."

"Who are you?"

"Temper, Agent Calloway. I am 'ere to eenform you that we 'ave found Dr. Reid."

"Who's Dr. Reid?"

Whatever it was that he was sitting on was pushing into his legs, his butt and his back. He shifted as much as he could, but it didn't relieve the pressure that was becoming pain.

"You know 'oo Dr. Reid ees."

"Yeah," Calloway's thoughts were frantically running around in his head. If he admitted that he knew Dr. Reid… Well, everyone in the bureau knew him. It didn't mean anything. "Yeah, I know who he is. Tall, messy hair, looks like a strong wind could blow him away, thinks he's the smartest one in the room."

"Yes, that ees 'im."

"You said you found him." He shifted in his seat again and the pain increased ten times. He just couldn't get comfortable.

"Yes, we found 'im and thee young ladee. We 'ave all your partneers and Section Cheef Strauss."

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about. Let me out of this chair and we'll talk."

He shifted again and it made the other side of his legs hurt worse than ever. Stabbing pain ran up and down his legs and back now in waves that was making him nauseous.

"There ees nothing to talk about… Eet ees ovair!"

Calloway saw a very large man walk out of the shadows. He stayed where the agent couldn't see his face. He began to speak, but Calloway was having a hard time following him. The pain was enormous and all encompassing.

"I can see that you air feeling very uncomfortable right now. You air seeting en what ees known as a "tramp chair." One hundred and twenty years ago een ze Northeeast, some poleece officairs would put some of ze trainseeant population en thees chair for a whole day. As you can feel, the more time you seet, the worse the pain. Soon you weel not be abel to feel your legs and back. When ze pairson en ze chair feenished his sentence, they swore to nevair come back to zhat town agaeein." What do you sepoose would happen eef I leave you 'ere for three days?"

"Please, I'll do anything!"

"Yes, I know you weell."

The large man moved away and the door opened. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Chao, Agent Calloway."

"NO!"

His scream echoed around the room and when the light went out he howled in agony. Only the shadows kept him company and the silence that didn't care.

_**THE END**_


End file.
